ingenue

See also ingénue

English

WOTD – 17 September 2007    

Etymology

From the French word ingénue, the feminine form of ingénu (meaning “guileless”), originally from the Latin word ingenuus (meaning “ingenuous”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈɑnʒənu], [ˈɑ̃ʒənu]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

ingenue (plural ingenues)

1. An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman.
2. A dramatic role of such a woman; an actress playing such a role.
3. An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome person.
   • 1951 June 11, Harold L. Ickes, “Acheson, Political Ingenue”, The New Republic, volume 124, number 24, page 17: 

     Mr. Acheson's failure as Secretary of State ... has been an inability to understand people or to be understood by them.

   • 2002 Spring, Joshua David Gonsalves, “What Makes Lord Byron Go? Strong Determinations-Public/Private-of Imperial Errancy”, Studies in Romanticism, volume 41, number 1, Psychoanalytic, page 40fn: 

     I cannot resist citing, slightly out of context, another bit of Baudelaire: "Satan s'est fait ingénu" (Satan has made himself into an ingenue [Oeuvres Completes 640]).

   • 2006 September, Kevin McFadden, “It's a Cue, the Name”, Poetry, volume 188, number 5, page 417: 

     America why callow ingenue bile?

Usage note

The corresponding masculine term, ingenu, is poorly known, and so the feminine term is sometimes used in a gender-neutral or masculine way. (See the 2002 citation, where the explicit masculine French is feminized in English.)

Related terms

• ingenu, ingenuous

Anagrams

• genuine
• Guienne

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Italian

Adjective

ingenue f pl

1. feminine plural form of ingenuo

Noun

ingenue f

1. Plural form of ingenua

Anagrams

• genuine

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Latin

Adjective

ingenue

1. vocative masculine singular of ingenuus