Meanings
nounbelle laide (plural belles laides)
plural belles laides
- A woman who is attractive despite not being conventionally beautiful.
Perhaps her looks were not considered downright repulsive. But she was not even what in those years was called une belle laide, being neither feminine, nor soft, nor submissive.
1979, Peter Drucker, The Man Who Invented Kissinger, John Wiley, published 1997, page 143
Origin
From French, belle (“beautiful woman”) + laide (“ugly”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
belle laide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belle%20laide
MLA
“belle laide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belle%20laide. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “belle laide,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/belle%20laide.
Source: belle laide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.