English
Etymology
From poet + -ess . Compare Middle English poetresse ( “ poetess ” ) .
Noun
poetess (plural poetesses )
( dated ) A female poet .
Usage notes
Poetess is rare in contemporary usage according to which both sexes are known normally as poets . The Latin term for a female poet was poētria , derived from the Ancient Greek ποιήτρια ( poiḗtria ) , which still means “female poet” in Modern Greek. “Female poet” is the more usual modern translation where the gendered form in the original language is preserved.
Translations
female poet
Arabic: شَاعِرَة f ( šāʕira )
Bashkir: шағирә ( şağirə )
Belarusian: паэ́тка f ( paétka ) , паэтэ́са m ( paetésa )
Bulgarian: поете́са f ( poetésa )
Catalan: poetessa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 女詩人 / 女诗人 , 女诗人 ( nǚshīrén )
Czech: básnířka (cs) f , poetka (cs) f
Dutch: dichteres (nl) f , poëte f
Esperanto: poetino
Finnish: runoilijatar
French: poétesse (fr) f
Galician: poetisa (gl) f
German: Dichterin (de) f , Poetin f
Greek: ποιήτρια (el) f ( poiítria )
Ancient Greek: ποιήτρια f ( poiḗtria )
Hungarian: költőnő (hu)
Icelandic: skáldkona f
Ido: poetino
Irish: banfhile m , file mná m
Italian: poetessa (it) f
Japanese: 女流詩人 ( じょりゅうしじん, joryūshijin )
(deprecated template usage ) {{trans-mid }}
Latin: poētria f
Latvian: dzejniece f
Lithuanian: poetė f
Macedonian: поете́са f ( poetésa )
Persian: شاعره (fa) ( šâ'ere )
Polish: poetka (pl) f
Portuguese: poetisa (pt) f
Romanian: poetă (ro) f , poetesă (ro) f
Russian: поэте́сса (ru) f ( poetɛ́ssa )
Scottish Gaelic: bana-bhàrd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: песникиња f , пјесникиња f
Roman: pesnikinja f , pjesnikinja (sh) f
Slovak: básnička f , poetka f
Slovene: pesnica f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: basnikarka f
Spanish: poetisa (es) f
Swedish: poetissa (sv)
Tajik: шоира (tg) ( šoyira )
Ukrainian: поете́са f ( poetésa )
Further reading