jailbait
/ˈd͡ʒeɪlbeɪt/
jailbait noun: a sexually mature person below, or appearing to be below, the legal age of consent, who is regarded, usually by an adult, as being sexually attractive and/or seductive.
Noun
jailbait (usually uncountable, plural jailbaits)
- A sexually mature person below, or appearing to be below, the legal age of consent, who is regarded, usually by an adult, as being sexually attractive and/or seductive.
- "The first time she modelled for Edward Weston, in March 1934, Charis Wilson knew she didn’t look good. At 20 she was “a piece of jailbait”, a mere child, especially with the stumpy plaits into which she sometimes twisted her hair."2009, The Economist, Charis Wilson, model and writer, died on November 20th, aged 95
Forms of jailbait
| plural | jailbaits |
|---|---|
| alternative form | gaolbait |
| alternative form | jail bait |
| alternative form | jail-bait |
Origin of jailbait
From jail + bait, from the fact that statutory rape can result, for the adult committing it, in incarceration.
Questions about jailbait
- What does jailbait mean?
- Jailbait means a sexually mature person below, or appearing to be below, the legal age of consent, who is regarded, usually by an adult, as being sexually attractive and/or seductive.
- What part of speech is jailbait?
- Jailbait is a noun.
- How do you pronounce jailbait?
- Jailbait is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒeɪlbeɪt/.
- What is the plural of jailbait?
- The plural of jailbait is jailbaits.
Words near jailbait in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jailbait (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-jailbait.ogg.
Cite this entry: “jailbait.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jailbait. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.