actress

English

Alternative forms

• actoress (nonstandard)

Etymology

From actor +‎ -ess. Probably formed independently of Middle French actrice.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæk.tɹɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æktɹɪs

Noun

actress (plural actresses)

1. A female who performs on the stage or in films. [from 17th c.]
   • 1972, Neil Young (lyrics and music), “A Man Needs a Maid”, in Harvest:

     A while ago somewhere I don't know when / I was watchin' a movie with a friend / I fell in love with the actress / She was playin' a part that I could understand

   • 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 88:

     "I'm an actress -- actor, as we have to say these days."

   • 2011 January 27, “Not going quietly”, in The Economist:

     Court documents appear to show that Ian Edmondson, a senior News of the World journalist, had authorised Mr Mulcaire to hack phones belonging to Sienna Miller, an actress.

2. (now rare) A female doer or "actor" (in a general sense). [from 16th c.]
   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 290:

     My mental anguish, and the dreadful scenes in which I had been an actress, advanced the period of my labour.

Usage notes

• Actor may also be used to refer to a female performer.

Synonyms

• actorine (rare, archaic)
• actrice (obsolete, rare)

Derived terms

• actressy
• adult actress
• as the actress said to the bishop
• blacktress
• character actress
• live actress
• mattress actress
• play-actress
• supporting actress
• voice actress

 

Related terms

• actrix

Descendants

• → Cebuano: aktres
• → Tagalog: aktres

Translations

female actor — see also actor

• Afrikaans: aktrise (af)
• Albanian: vepruese f, aktore (sq) f
• Arabic: مُمَثِّلَة f (mumaṯṯila)

  Egyptian Arabic: ممثلة f (mumassila)

• Armenian: դերասանուհի (hy) (derasanuhi)
• Asturian: actriz f
• Azerbaijani: aktrisa
• Bashkir: актриса (aktrisa)
• Belarusian: актры́са f (aktrýsa)
• Bengali: অভিনেত্রী (bn) (obhinetri)
• Bulgarian: актри́са (bg) f (aktrísa), арти́стка (bg) f (artístka)
• Catalan: actriu (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女演員／女演员 (nǚyǎnyuán), 伶 (zh) (líng)

• Czech: herečka (cs) f
• Danish: skuespillerinde (da) c
• Dutch: actrice (nl) f
• Esperanto: aktorino
• Estonian: näitlejatar (et), näitlejanna (et)
• Finnish: näyttelijätär (fi)
• French: actrice (fr) f
• Galician: actriz f
• Georgian: მსახიობი ქალი (msaxiobi kali), მსახიობი (msaxiobi)
• German: Schauspielerin (de) f
• Greek: ηθοποιός (el) m or f (ithopoiós)
• Hebrew: שַׂחְקָנִית f (sakhkanít)
• Hindi: अभिनेत्री (hi) f (abhinetrī)
• Hungarian: színésznő (hu)
• Icelandic: leikkona (is) f
• Ido: aktorino (io)
• Indonesian: aktris (id)
• Irish: ban-aisteoir m, aisteoir mná m
• Italian: attrice (it) f
• Japanese: 女優 (ja) (じょゆう, joyū)
• Kashubian: teatrownica f
• Kazakh: актриса (aktrisa)
• Korean: 여배우(女俳優) (ko) (yeobae'u), 여우(女優) (ko) (yeou)
• Kyrgyz: актриса (ky) (aktrisa)
• Lao: ນາງລະຄອນ (nāng la khǭn)
• Latin: āctrīx f
• Latvian: aktrise f
• Lithuanian: aktorė f
• Macedonian: актерка f (akterka), артистка f (artistka)
• Malay: pelakon (ms) (not gendered), pelakon wanita
• Maltese: attriċi f
• Maori: kaitapere
• Marathi: अभीनेत्री f (abhīnetrī)
• Norman: actrice f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skuespillerinne (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: skodespelarinne f

• Occitan: actritz (oc) f
• Odia: ଅଭିନେତ୍ରୀ f (abhinetri)
• Old English: sċeriċġe f
• Persian: آکتریس (fa) (âktris)
• Polish: aktorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: atriz (pt) f
• Romanian: actriță (ro) f
• Russian: актри́са (ru) f (aktrísa), арти́стка (ru) f (artístka)
• Samogitian: aktuorė f
• Scottish Gaelic: ban-chleasaiche f, ban-chluicheadair f, ban-actair f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: глу̀мица f

  Roman: glùmica (sh) f

• Sinhalese: නිළිය f (niḷiya), රංගන ශිල්පිනිය f (raṁgana śilpiniya)
• Slovak: herečka (sk) f
• Slovene: igralka f
• Spanish: actriz (es) f
• Swedish: skådespelerska (sv) c, aktris (sv) c
• Tajik: актриса (aktrisa)
• Telugu: నటి (te) (naṭi)
• Thai: นักแสดงหญิง (nák sàdaeng yĭng)
• Turkish: aktris (tr)
• Turkmen: aktrisa (tk)
• Ukrainian: акто́рка (uk) f (aktórka), актри́са (uk) f (aktrýsa), лицеді́йка f (lycedíjka)
• Uzbek: aktrisa (uz)
• Vietnamese: nữ diễn viên
• Volapük: jidramatan
• Welsh: actores (cy) f
• Yiddish: שוישפּילערין f (shoyshpilerin), אַקטריסע f (aktrise)

References

• “actress”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “actress”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Casters, casters, recasts, scarest

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaktrəs/

Noun

actress (plural actresses)

1. actress

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.