poetess

English

Etymology

From poet +‎ -ess. Compare Middle English poetresse (“poetess”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpəʊ.ɪˈtɛs/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ.ɪˌtɛs/

Noun

poetess (plural poetesses)

(dated) A female poet.
- 1830, Alfred Tennyson, “Leonine Elegiacs”, in Juvenilia:
  The ancient poetess singeth, that Hesperus all things bringeth, / Smoothing the wearied mind: bring me my love, Rosalind.

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.

Synonyms

poetress (obsolete)

Translations

female poet

Arabic: شَاعِرَة‎ f (šāʿira)
Armenian: բանաստեղծուհի (hy) (banastełcuhi)
Azerbaijani: şairə
Bashkir: шағирә (şağirä)
Belarusian: паэ́тка f (paétka), паэтэ́са m (paetésa)
Bulgarian: поете́са f (poetésa)
Catalan: poetessa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 女詩人／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)
Hindi: शायरा (śāyrā)
Hungarian: költőnő (hu)
Icelandic: skáldkona f
Ido: poetino (io)
Irish: banfhile m, file mná m
Italian: poetessa (it) f
Japanese: 女流詩人 (じょりゅうしじん, joryūshijin)
Latin: poētria f
Latvian: dzejniece f
Lithuanian: poetė f
Macedonian: поете́са f (poetésa)
Ottoman Turkish: شاعره‎
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)
Telugu: కవయిత్రి (te) (kavayitri)
Turkish: şaire (tr)
Ukrainian: поете́са f (poetésa)
Urdu: شاعرہ‎
Uyghur: شائىرە‎ (sha'ire)
Uzbek: shoira (uz)