Meanings
plural femmes fatales · plural femme fatales
- An attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman.
Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale) / The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
1967, Lou Reed, “Femme Fatale”, in The Velvet Underground & Nico, performed by The Velvet Underground1 more example
Aren't you ever gonna stop deluding yourself, hmm? Handling Max? Behaving like some ludicrous little underage femme fatale? You're… you're about as fatale as an after dinner mint!
1972, Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, spoken by Brian Roberts (Michael York)Synonyms: vamp, enchantress, man-eater, mantrap, seductress, she-wolf, siren, temptress · Antonyms: ingenue
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchfemme fatale
- Frenchfemme fatale
- Englishfemme fatale
Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale (literally “deadly woman”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic طَاغِيَة جَمَال
- طَاغِيَة جَمَالseductive and dangerous woman
Chinese Mandarin 蛇蠍美人 /蛇蝎美人, 妖姬
- 蛇蠍美人 /蛇蝎美人 (shéxiē měirén)seductive and dangerous woman
- 妖姬 (yāojī)seductive and dangerous woman
- 妖女 (yāonǚ)seductive and dangerous woman
- 妖精 (nǚyāojing)seductive and dangerous woman
- 紅顏禍水 /红颜祸水 (hóngyán huòshuǐ)seductive and dangerous woman
- 狐狸精 (húlijīng)seductive and dangerous woman
Danish femme fatale
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
Esperanto fatala virino
- fatala virinoseductive and dangerous woman
Finnish viettelijätär
- viettelijätärseductive and dangerous woman
French femme fatale
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
German Femme fatale, verhängnisvolle Frau
- Femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
- verhängnisvolle Frauseductive and dangerous woman
Greek φαμ φατάλ
- φαμ φατάλ (fam fatál)seductive and dangerous woman
Hungarian végzet asszonya
- végzet asszonyaseductive and dangerous woman
Indonesian femme fatale
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
Italian femme fatale, donna fatale
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
- donna fataleseductive and dangerous woman
Japanese ファム・ファタール, 妖女
- ファム・ファタール (famu fatāru)seductive and dangerous woman
- 妖女 (yōjo)seductive and dangerous woman
- 妖婦 (yōfu)seductive and dangerous woman
- 傾城傾国 (keisei keikoku)seductive and dangerous woman
Korean 팜 파탈, 요부
- 팜 파탈 (pam patal)seductive and dangerous woman
- 요부 (yobu)seductive and dangerous woman
Polish femme fatale, kobieta fatalna
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
- kobieta fatalnaseductive and dangerous woman
Portuguese femme fatale
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
Russian рокова́я же́нщина, фам-фата́ль
- рокова́я же́нщина (rokovája žénščina)seductive and dangerous woman
- фам-фата́ль (fam-fatálʹ)seductive and dangerous woman
Scottish Gaelic bean bhàsail
- bean bhàsailseductive and dangerous woman
Spanish mujer fatal
- mujer fatalseductive and dangerous woman
Swedish femme fatale
- femme fataleseductive and dangerous woman
Ukrainian фата́льна жі́нка
- фата́льна жі́нка (fatálʹna žínka)seductive and dangerous woman
Cite this entry
femme fatale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/femme%20fatale
“femme fatale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/femme%20fatale. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “femme fatale,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/femme%20fatale.
Source: femme fatale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.