grisette

English

La Grisette (sense 1) by Constantin Guys

Grisette (sense 3) Blond beer bottle, by St-Feuillien

A grisette (Amanita vaginata, sense 2) near Biggesee, Sauerland, Germany

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪˈzɛt/
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

grisette (plural grisettes)

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

   Alternative form: grizette

   • 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 263:

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

   • 1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt:

     The anticipations of the shopkeeper were realized, and his rooms soon became notorious through the charms of the sprightly grisette.

   • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1015:

     he enjoyed the immense luxury not only of lovemaking but also of sleeping and drowsing beside this gentle and composed and somewhat melancholy woman, who was not a fille de joie in the professional sense but more like a grisette.

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.
   • 2004, Phil Markowski, Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the European Tradition, Brewers Publications, →ISBN:

     Oral accounts of those who remember the old grisettes say they were low-alcohol, light-bodied, saison-like golden ales of no great distinction.

   • 2018, Suzanne Baltsar, Trouble Brewing, Gallery Books, →ISBN, pages 20–21:

     She talked animatedly, with her hands, and her excitement about something as boring as the differences between a saison and a grisette was contagious.

   • 2019, Douglas Trattner, Moon Cleveland, Avalon Travel, →ISBN:

     Largely grounded in European classics, the ever-changing roster of taps cycles through grisettes, altbiers, kölsches, and saisons, but also trots out “beastly” concoctions like Imperial IPAs as well.

Further reading

• Grisette (person) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Amanita vaginata on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Grisette (beer) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• tergites

French

Etymology

From gris (“grey”) +‎ -ette.

Noun

grisette f (plural grisettes)

1. (obsolete) A cheap grey fabric.
2. grisette (working class woman)
3. grisette (mushroom)

   Synonym: amanite vaginée

4. skipper (butterfly in the family Hesperiidae)
5. Gafrarium pectinatum, an edible Venus clam of the Pacific.
6. A type of bonbon made from honey and licorice.

Descendants

• → English: grisette, grizette
• → German: Grisette

Further reading

• “grisette”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Grisette (femme) on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr
• Grisette (papillon) on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr