What does "grisette" mean?

A (chiefly French) girl or young married woman of the lower class; especially, a young working-class woman of perceived easy morals.

What is a synonym for "grisette"?

Common synonyms include: baggage, bitch, broad, chippy, cum catcher, doxy.

//ɡɹɪˈzɛt// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A (chiefly French) girl or young married woman of the lower class; especially, a young working-class woman of perceived easy morals.
"‘What a fuss is here, indeed, about a little grisette: why, one would think Beresford had carried off an heiress.’"
2
The grisette amanita (Amanita vaginata), an edible mushroom in the amanita family.
3
A variety of low-alcohol beer that is light in body, with a noticeable tartness similar to other farmhouse ales.
"Oral accounts of those who remember the old grisettes say they were low-alcohol, light-bodied, saison-like golden ales of no great distinction."

"‘What a fuss is here, indeed, about a little grisette: why, one would think Beresford had carried off an heiress.’"

Borrowed from French grisette, from gris (“grey”) + -ette, named after the color of the fabric associated with low value or bad quality.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.