gay woman
- noun
- /ɡeɪ ˈwʊmən/
- The first openly gay woman was elected to the Senate.
- an openly gay woman
- a young gay woman
- a gay woman in a suit
It's hard being a gay woman coach Harder.
- It's hard being a gay woman coach Harder.
- She is a drop dead gorgeous gay woman who's sassy AF on Twitter.
Examples
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Well, I didn't always live my life as a gay woman.
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I am only attracted to other gay women because they know what they are doing.
Blog text (27) -
I see the first openly gay woman elected to office.
Blog text (21) -
"I am a gay woman attracted strictly to women."
Blog text (15) -
Yes, some gay women get some version of that, but we don't all need the same things.
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And an openly gay woman has been elected to the US Senate from Wisconsin.
Blog text (23) -
Gay men and gay women both experience oppression, but sometimes the ways in which they experience oppression differ.
Blog text (9) -
In Palm Springs, California, "Dinah, the Women's Weekend" was celebrated by hundreds of gay women from around the world.
Academic text (1999) -
She is a drop dead gorgeous gay woman who's sassy AF on Twitter.
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Jane, you were named one of Power Up's ten amazing gay women who inspire others.
Synonyms
A woman who is romantically or sexually attracted to other women
A person who is attracted to people of the same sex
A person who is sexually attracted to people of the same sex
Relating to people whose sexual or gender identity is not straight
A person who is attracted to people of the same sex
A person who is attracted to people of the same sex
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'gay' (sexually attracted to same-sex partners) modifying 'woman' (an adult female), so a learner who knows both words will readily infer the phrase refers to a female homosexual. This adjective + noun pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, with no idiomatic or metaphorical shift.
Etymology
The phrase gay woman joins gay and woman; gay used to mean 'happy' but in the 20th century came to mean 'homosexual', and woman means an adult female. So gay woman means a woman who is attracted to other women.