A gamine is a slim, often boyish, elegant young woman who is, or is perceived to be, mischievous, teasing or sexually appealing. The word gamine is a French word, the feminine form of gamin, originally meaning urchin, waif or playful, naughty child. It was used in English from about the mid-19th century (for example, by William Makepeace Thackeray in 1840 in one of his Parisian sketches), but in the 20th century, came to be applied in its more modern sense.