in lesbians

1 9.9

To be in love with another woman, said as a joke

idiom

: en lesbianas

After years of friendship, they realized they were in lesbians with each other.

Examples

She texted her friend, 'Guess what? I think I’m in lesbians now!'
Are you two in lesbians now?
At the party, jokes were made about being in lesbians together.
They are definitely in lesbians!
After years of friendship, they realized they were in lesbians with each other.
She texted her friend, 'Guess what? I think I’m in lesbians now!'
At the party, jokes were made about being in lesbians together.

Synonyms

in love

vsin lesbians

∞ 1.9

Feeling strong romantic feelings for someone

is a playful informal pun rather than a neutral serious feeling

Surface Forms

in lesbians main

Morphology

in + lesbian

This phrase is a playful pun on the idiom 'in love' and relies on cultural/idiomatic knowledge and wordplay rather than regular compositional semantics. A B1 learner who knows 'in' and 'lesbian' would more likely read it literally (e.g. 'among/inside lesbians') and would not reliably infer the intended meaning 'in a romantic relationship between women' without prior exposure to the joke, so it is not transparently derivable from its parts.

Etymology

In lesbians is a playful pun on the phrase 'in love'. It keeps the idea of being in a relationship but replaces 'love' with lesbians, so people use in lesbians to joke that they are romantically involved with another woman.