belle dame sans merci

noun

A beautiful woman who seduces a man and then consigns him to an unpleasant fate.

OriginFrench belle dame sans merci →
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Meanings

nounbelle dame sans merci (plural belles dames sans merci)

plural belles dames sans merci

  1. literatureA beautiful woman who seduces a man and then consigns him to an unpleasant fate.

Origin

  1. Frenchbelle dame sans merci
  2. Englishbelle dame sans merci

From French belle dame sans merci (literally “beautiful woman without mercy”). La Belle Dame sans Merci is the title of a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819; this was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier, La Belle Dame sans Mercy.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

belle dame sans merci. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belle%20dame%20sans%20merci

MLA

“belle dame sans merci.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belle%20dame%20sans%20merci. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “belle dame sans merci,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belle%20dame%20sans%20merci.

Source: belle dame sans merci on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.