In the literature of the last century, in historical works, the strange word "grisette" is sometimes found. To an ignorant person, it is only clear that this is the name of a female being. But what she does is a big mystery. Let's try to understand what this word means, whether it has analogues in the modern language.
The lexical meaning
The noun that interests us comes from the name of the gray fabric, from which young girls and women of the middle class were sewed casual dresses.
Grisette is:
- A coquette from the middle class (often a seamstress or a fashionista) who wore gray dresses, earning her living herself.
- Lady of the heart of a student or artist.
- A young woman who neglects the rules dictated by generally accepted morality.
- Paris seamstress.
Grisettes, which are an important part of the bohemian subculture, received a lot of attention in nineteenth-century French literature. The most famous grisettes:
- Fantina (Les Miserables by Victor Hugo);
- Martha (Horace George Sand);
- Mademoiselle Lucille, nicknamed Mimi ("Scenes from the Life of a Bohemia" by Henri Murgier);
- Mimi Penson (Alfred de Musset);
- Laughter (Paris Secrets of Eugene Syu).
Morphological characteristics, declination
The grisette is an animated feminine noun of the first declension.
| Case | Question | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | Who! | A grisette is a young French seamstress, fashionista or flower girl. | Grisettes did not worry about moral issues. |
| Genitive | Whom? | D'Artagnan did not know how to get rid of the annoying attention of this grisette. | You will not find grisettes now in the afternoon with fire. |
| Dative | To whom? | Jealous Mimi was careful to ensure that her husband did not come close to the young grisette. | The grisettes should think about their future. |
| Accusative | Whom? | A law student has long ceased to fall out of love with a twenty-year-old grisette. | I have never seen a grizzly in my life. |
| Lively life | By whom? | I have nothing serious with this grisette. | The elder seamstress was unhappy with the grizzles. |
| Prepositional | About whom? | The young man completely forgot about the grisette, and she waited all evening for him at the theater. | What you find in poorly educated grisettes is strange. |
Today this word is almost out of use, but there are words with a similar meaning.
Grisette: synonyms
Nowadays, the noun “grisette” has been replaced by words with a similar meaning.
Grisette is:
- girl;
- mademoiselle;
- young lady;
- lass;
- sweetheart;
- girlfriend
- baby
- yoke;
- ingenue;
- soubrette;
- the maid
- seamstress;
- milliner;
- seamstress.