Standard Lemma guide

tribade

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.

  • UK: /ˈtɹɪbəd/
  • UK: /tɹɪˈbɑːd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːd
  • rhymes with -ɪbəd

1

noun

Meaning 1

A woman who engages in sexual activity with another woman; a lesbian.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a female homosexual

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lesbian, gay woman

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: homosexual, homophile, homo, gay

Narrower terms: butch, dike, dyke

History

Etymology

From Middle French tribade, and its source, Latin tribad-, from Koine Greek τριβάς (tribás), from Ancient Greek τρίβω (tríbō, “to rub”).