Grisette (person)

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The word grisette (sometimes spelled grizette) has referred to a French working-class woman from the late 17th century and remained in common use through the Belle Époque era, albeit with some modifications to its meaning. It derives from gris (French for grey) and refers to the cheap grey fabric of the dresses these women originally wore. The 1694 edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française described a grisette as simply "a woman of lowly condition". By the 1835 edition of the dictionary, her status had risen somewhat. She was described as: ...a young working woman who is coquettish and flirtatious. This usage can be seen in one of Oliver Wendell Holmes' early poems "Our Yankee Girls" (1830): ...the gay grisette, whose fingers touch love's thousand chords so well. ... In practice, "young working woman" referred primarily to those employed in the garment and millinery trades as seamstresses or shop assistants, the few occupations open to them in 19th century urban France, apart...

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