Phrase guide

femme fatale

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /fɛm fəˈtæl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Received-Pronunciation: /fɛm fəˈtɑːl/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: vamp, enchantress, femme fatale, man-eater, mantrap, seductress, she-wolf, siren, temptress, vixen, wolfess

Antonyms: ingenue

Broader terms: femme, woman, person

2

noun

Meaning 2

a woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: enchantress, temptress, siren, Delilah

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: woman, adult female

History

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French femme fatale (literally “deadly woman”).

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: طَاغِيَة جَمَال — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蛇蠍美人 /蛇蝎美人 (shéxiē měirén) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Chinese Mandarin: 妖姬 (yāojī) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Chinese Mandarin: 妖女 (yāonǚ) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Chinese Mandarin: 女妖精 (nǚyāojing) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Chinese Mandarin: 紅顏禍水 /红颜祸水 (hóngyán huòshuǐ) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Danish: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Esperanto: fatala virino — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Finnish: viettelijätär — seductive and dangerous woman
  • French: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • German: Femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • German: verhängnisvolle Frau — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Greek: φαμ φατάλ (fam fatál) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Hungarian: végzet asszonya — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Indonesian: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Italian: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Italian: donna fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Japanese: ファム・ファタール (famu fatāru) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Japanese: 妖女 (yōjo) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Japanese: 妖婦 (yōfu) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Japanese: 傾城傾国 (keisei keikoku) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Korean: 팜 파탈 (pam patal) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Korean: 요부 (yobu) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Polish: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Polish: kobieta fatalna — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Portuguese: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Russian: рокова́я же́нщина (rokovája žénščina) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Russian: фам-фата́ль (fam-fatálʹ) — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Scottish Gaelic: bean bhàsail — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Spanish: mujer fatal — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Swedish: femme fatale — seductive and dangerous woman
  • Ukrainian: фата́льна жі́нка (fatálʹna žínka) — seductive and dangerous woman