Dictionary

affairette en · NOUN

Etymology

From affair + -ette.

Meanings

1. A brief romantic relationship, especially with someone who is in a relationship with another person, or not one's regular partner.
   • Suddenly single at thirty, I floundered through those awful encounters, affairettes, and all-out affairs I’d tried to spare myself by marrying early and supposedly for good. 2004, Erika Ritter, The Great Big Book of Guys,, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 5:
   • Occasionally I got out afterward to cruise. Occasionally someone does spend the night with me. Twice, I've even had very sweet "affairettes" with men who made their way to my home. 1980 August 9, John D'Emilio, “There's No Place Like Home”, in Gay Community News, page 9:
   • 1976, David Edgar, Saigon Rose, Act II, Scene 4, in Plays: One, London: Methuen Drama, 1987, p. 215, It’s a poem, students learn, about the symptoms of syphilis. I once had an affairette with a final year medic from Inverness who used to mumble it all the time, often at the most inopportune moments.
   • “[…] I thought I’d be snapped up in six months. At the very most!” […] “What about Robert?” “Affairettes don’t count.” 1978, Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1979, page 93:

Forms

Synonyms

liaison · fling · dalliance