lesbian

• adj. [心理] 女同性戀的
• n. 女同性戀者

來自古希臘愛琴海島嶼Lesbos，因女詩人Sappho與她的諸多學生居住於該島，並且流傳出許多關於女人之間的感情或愛情詩篇而得名。

lesbian

lesbian: [16] Originally, and for many centuries, Lesbian simply meant ‘of Lesbos’, referring to the Aegean island of that name, off the Turkish coast. Then, in the second half of the 19th century, probably some time before 1870, it embarked on a more sensational career. The lyric poet Sappho (c. 600 BC) lived on Lesbos, and she was noted for the love poems she wrote to other women. Her name was invoked directly (in Sapphism) around this time as a genteel literary allusion to female homosexuality, but it was the even more deeply euphemistic lesbian that went on to become the main English term in this area.

lesbian (adj.)

1590s, "pertaining to the island of Lesbos," from Latin Lesbius, from Greek lesbios "of Lesbos," Greek island in northeastern Aegean Sea (the name originally may have meant "wooded"), home of Sappho, great lyric poet whose erotic and romantic verse embraced women as well as men, hence meaning "relating to homosexual relations between women" (1890; lesbianism in this sense is attested from 1870) and the noun, first recorded 1925. Her particular association in English with erotic love between women dates to at least 1825, though the words formed from it are later. Before this, the principal figurative use (common in 17c.) was lesbian rule (c. 1600) a mason's rule of lead, of a type used on Lesbos, which could be bent to fit the curves of a molding; hence, "pliant morality or judgment."

And this is the nature of the equitable, a correction of law where it is defective owing to its universality. ... For when the thing is indefinite the rule also is indefinite, like the leaden rule used in making the Lesbian moulding; the rule adapts itself to the shape of the stone and is not rigid, and so too the decree is adapted to the facts. [Aristotle, "Nicomachean Ethics"]

See also tribadism. Greek had a verb lesbiazein "to imitate the Lesbians," which implied "sexual initiative and shamelessness" among women, but not necessarily female homosexuality.

1. The gay and lesbian rights group, Stonewall, sees outing as completely unhelpful.

男女同性戀權益組織“石牆”認為公開揭露同性戀者身份毫無益處。

來自柯林斯例句

2. I'm a lesbian and I'm not ashamed about it.

我是個女同性戀，但我並不為此感到羞恥。

來自柯林斯例句

3. Many of her best friends were lesbian.

她最要好的朋友中有很多都是女同性戀者。

來自柯林斯例句

4. I came out as a lesbian when I was still in my teens.

我才十幾歲的時候，就公開了自己的同性戀身份。

來自柯林斯例句

5. Who secretly wishes they were married to a hot , sexy lesbian?

誰偷偷地希望與自己結婚的是一個性感惹火的女同性戀?

來自電影對白