tribade
/ˈtɹɪbəd/
tribade noun: a woman who engages in sexual activity with another woman; a lesbian.
Noun
tribade (plural tribades)
- A woman who engages in sexual activity with another woman; a lesbian.
- Go, cramp dull Mars, light Venus, when he snorts, / Or with thy tribade trine invent new sports; / Thou, nor thy looseness with my making sorts.a. 1637, Ben Jonson, Præludium
- A century later, however, homosexuality among English women seems to have been regarded by the French as common, and Bacchaumont[…] added: "Her taste for women will there find attractive satisfaction, for though Paris furnishes many tribades it is said that London is herein superior."1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, 3rd edition, volume 2
Forms of tribade
| plural | tribades |
|---|
Origin of tribade
From Middle French tribade, and its source, Latin tribad-, from Koine Greek τριβάς (tribás), from Ancient Greek τρίβω (tríbō, “to rub”).
Words formed from tribade
Words that rhyme with tribade
Questions about tribade
- What does tribade mean?
- Tribade means a woman who engages in sexual activity with another woman; a lesbian.
- What part of speech is tribade?
- Tribade is a noun.
- How do you pronounce tribade?
- Tribade is pronounced /ˈtɹɪbəd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tribade?
- The plural of tribade is tribades.
Words near tribade in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tribade (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tribade.wav.
Cite this entry: “tribade.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tribade. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.