What does chauffeuse mean?
Chauffeuse is a rare English noun for a woman who drives a motor vehicle, especially one hired to drive a passenger car. In older writing, it commonly serves as the feminine counterpart of chauffeur, while the underlying idea is the same professional service: taking passengers somewhere in a private car. The word has a formal, historical tone in English and now appears much more naturally in French, where it is the ordinary feminine form of chauffeur. In contemporary English, driver or the gender-neutral chauffeur usually sounds more natural unless the person's sex is relevant to the sentence or a historical register is being reproduced. Chauffeuse is a useful word for reading period fiction and for recognizing a French-derived gender distinction that English generally handles with neutral terminology.
nounA woman who drives a motor vehicle, especially one employed to drive a car for passengers. In English, the term is chiefly historical or literary; in French, it is the feminine counterpart of chauffeur.
- A woman who drives a motor vehicle, especially one employed to drive a car for passengers.
"The chauffeuse waited in front of the hotel with the engine already running."
"The chauffeuse waited in front of the hotel with the engine already running."
"In the period novel, the wealthy family's chauffeuse drove them to the station."
The plural adds -s; the form is most likely to be encountered in historical or literary English.
"Two chauffeuses waited beside the railway station."
The word simply makes chauffeur feminine, yet it now feels more at home in French than in English.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does chauffeuse come from?
Chauffeuse was borrowed into English from French in the 19th century. It is the feminine counterpart of chauffeur and shares the French root chauffe-, derived from chauffer, “to heat,” which ultimately comes from Latin calfacere, “to make warm.” English chauffeur and the rare loanword chauffage continue the French family, while calefactor reflects the underlying Latin root more directly.
Related word forms
How chauffeuse is actually used
Rare, formal, and somewhat dated in English, with a historical or period flavour. It remains much more usual in French.
Easily confused with chauffeuse
Chauffeuse specifically denotes a woman driver, whereas chauffeur is normally gender-neutral in modern English and may refer to a man or woman.