Dictionary

pucelle en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /pʊˈsɛl/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman pucele, Middle French pucele, perhaps from a Late Latin *pullicella, but the further etymology is disputed. Compare Sicilian pulla.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A girl, a maiden; a virgin (often with reference to Joan of Arc).
   • There might have been a hundred Jeanne d'Arcs, all definable as pucelle or maid, just as we say “spinster”: we even read of one in the time of the Revolution. 1876, John Fiske, “Historical Difficulties”, in The Unseen World, and Other Essays:
   • Lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan. c. 1608, Ben Jonson, letter to John Fletcher:
   • But what's that Puzell whom they tearme so pure? 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
   • Seven weeks before, Joan of Arc had ridden into Orleans. She was at the height of her strange career.…‘Maid or Witch, Pucelle or Puzzell – she is very hard to understand.’ 1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff:
2. (obsolete) A prostitute, a slut.

Forms

Translations (6)

it pulzella (virgin) · es pucela (virgin) · fr pucelle (virgin) · pl dziewica (virgin) · el παρθένα (virgin) · eo virgulino (virgin)