A person, especially a woman, who has been divorced from their spouse.
From French 'divorcée,' the feminine form of 'divorcé,' which came from the verb 'divorcer.' The French term was borrowed into English in the 19th century, and notably the feminine form became the more common English version regardless of gender.
Divorcee is fascinating because it kept its French feminine ending '-ee' in English, making it one of the few occupational/status words that still marks gender in modern English. Ironically, while 'divorcee' sounds somewhat formal or outdated now, the word itself shows how women's marital status was once treated as a distinct social category.
The feminine suffix '-ee' was mandatory for divorced women ('divorcee'); divorced men were simply 'divorced men'. This linguistic gender marking encoded women's marital status as identity-defining.
Use 'divorced person' or simply 'divorced' regardless of gender. The -ee suffix is outdated.
["divorced person","divorced"]
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