tigress

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a female tiger

   The tigress guarded her cubs in the tall grass.

2. 2
   noun

   a fierce, forceful, or protective woman

   She fought like a tigress when the soldiers threatened her family.

Borrowed from French tigresse, formed from tigre, 'tiger,' + the feminine suffix -esse. English adopted both the literal female-animal sense and a figurative sense for a fierce or fiercely protective woman.

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