damsel in distress

English

Etymology

Calque of French demoiselle en détresse, from the classic theme in many dramatic forms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdæm.zəl ɪn dɪˈstɹɛs/

Noun

damsel in distress (plural damsels in distress)

1. A young woman perceived as being helpless in a dangerous situation and requiring rescue.
   • 1995, Ani DiFranco (lyrics and music), “Not a Pretty Girl”, in Not a Pretty Girl:

     I am not a pretty girl / That is not what I do / I ain't no damsel in distress / And I don't need to be rescued

   • 2020 May 27, Ruby Hamad, “A White Damsel Leveraged Racial Power and Failed”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     The damsel-in-distress archetype probably conjures up images of delicate maidens and chivalrous gentlemen. That is precisely what it is designed to do — for white people.

Derived terms

• didcap

Translations

young woman perceived as being in a dangerous situation.

• Arabic: فَتَاة فِي مِحْنَة f (fatā(t) fī miḥna)
• Breton: dimezell en enkrez f
• Catalan: donzella en perill f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 英雄救美 (yīngxióng jiù měi)

• Dutch: dame in nood f, jonkvrouw in nood f
• Esperanto: savota fraŭlino, savendulino
• Finnish: neito pulassa
• French: demoiselle en détresse (fr) f
• German: Jungfrau in Nöten f, verfolgte Unschuld f
• Hindi: संकट में युवती (saṅkaṭ mẽ yuvtī)
• Italian: damigella in pericolo f, fanciulla in pericolo f
• Japanese: 囚われの姫君 (toraware no himegimi)
• Korean: 비탄에 빠진 소녀 (bitane ppajin sonyeo)
• Occitan: domaisèla en perilh, domaisèla en malparat
• Polish: dama w opałach f
• Portuguese: donzela em apuros f, donzela em perigo
• Russian: де́ва в беде́ f (déva v bedé), пресле́дуемая де́ва f (preslédujemaja déva)
• Spanish: damisela en apuros f
• Swedish: dam i nöd, jungfru i fara, jungfru i nöd, flicka i trångmål
• Thai: สาวเอ๊าะเดือดร้อน
• Ukrainian: діва у біді f (diva u bidi)

Further reading

• damsel in distress on Wikipedia.Wikipedia