Etymograph

English

noirette

Noirette comes from French noir ‘black’, from Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- ‘bare, naked’, and perhaps ultimately from *nókʷts ‘night’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*nókʷts1‘night’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*negʷ-1‘bare, naked’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEniger2as nigrum‘wan, shining black’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400noir2‘black (colour)’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600noir2‘black’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentnoir3‘black’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1974noirette3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin niger
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French noir
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English noirette
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1974, Elia Kazan, New York: “For a time I was with a Noirette from…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*nókʷtsWiktionary, Latin niger‘night’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*negʷ-Wiktionary, Latin niger‘bare, naked’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnigerWiktionary, French noiras nigrum‘wan, shining black’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400noirWiktionary, French noir‘black (colour)’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600noirWiktionary, French noir‘black’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentnoirWiktionary, English noirette‘black’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1974noiretteWiktionary, English noirette. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1974, Elia Kazan, New York: “For a time I was with a Noirette from…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts ‘night’

nights, nightly, 26 more

through Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- ‘bare, naked’

night, naked, nude, negro, gymnastics, gymnasium, actin, nocturnal, gymnast, naga, nox, nocturne, nudism, 50 more

through Latin niger ‘wan, shining black’

niger, nigger, denigrate, nigella, negroni, 17 more

Today it means

noun A black-haired person, especially a woman.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “noirette”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin niger, French noir. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts / noirette

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