Love Words in English, Part 12: Advanced English Words for Flirts

Do you know that man who is always winking at women, or that woman who can’t help batting her eyelashes at passers-by? In English, we call these people flirts, but we’ve got a lot of other words for them, too! In this post, I share with you 5 advanced English vocabulary words for flirts. I hope you enjoy! (And if you do, please share! 😊)

1. Ladies’ Man

Ladies’ man is an affectionate term for a man who likes spending time with women and thinks he is attractive to them.

A student once asked me about the difference between a ladies’ man and a womanizer. It’s a great question! A womanizer doesn’t actually like women. He uses them to satisfy his own sexual desires, and when we call someone a womanizer, we disapprove of their behavior. A womanizer is a cruel person who only cares about himself. However, we usually smile when we think of a ladies’ man. A ladies’ man genuinely enjoys being around women, he genuinely likes women. He’s charming and fun, and if he’s an older man, we usually think that his desire to be around women is cute.

via GIPHY

Example sentence:

My grandfather has always been quite the ladies’ man. He loves the ladies, and they love him!

2. Gallant

Gallant is the least common word on this list, although it is widely understood. Gallant is a literary or old-fashioned term, so when we use it today, it’s usually in humorous contexts. If you call someone a gallant, you should have a smile in your eyes when you say it.

A gallant is a fashionable young man who gives polite attention to women.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand every word of this short clip from The Tempest. This is Shakespeare, and his language can be difficult even for native speakers. You can get the main message of the scene from body language and facial expressions. The young woman and young man are smitten with each other, and the mother is happy about it. Do you notice how polite the young man is as he speaks to the young woman? Do you notice how nicely he is dressed? He is a gallant.

BONUS VOCAB: smitten

smitten with someone = suddenly feeling that you are in love with someone

Example sentence:

Tony is hardly a gallant. He burped in my face when I first met him, and he went on to tell me all about his sexual exploits before asking me out!

3. Old Goat

Whereas we think affectionately about the ladies’ man and admire the gallant, this term for a flirt is often an insult, although not a very strong one. In fact, it has a somewhat humorous tone.

An old goat is a lecherous old man who tries to have sex with much younger women.

BONUS VOCAB: lecherous

lecherous = having too much interest in sexual pleasure

via GIPHY

Example sentence:

Be careful of the old goat over at Table 12. He just pinched me when I was pouring his beer!

4. Coquette

The first three words for flirts all referred to men. These last two refer only to women.

A coquette is a woman who flirts with men without actually being romantically interested in them. The coquette flirts out of instinct more than desire. She just enjoys flirting. She is the ultimate tease.

via GIPHY

Example sentence:

You think Brenda likes you? Join the club. That girl is the biggest coquette this side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

5. Vamp

A vamp is a seductive woman who uses her charm and her sex appeal to exploit men. Whereas the coquette simply likes the act of flirting, the vamp uses her womanly wiles to get what she wants. And although seductive women come in all shapes and sizes, a vamp is also often a bombshell in terms of her physique.

BONUS VOCAB: womanly wiles

womanly wiles = the tricks and strategies that women use to make men want them

BONUS VOCAB: bombshell

bombshell = a very attractive woman with a voluptuous physique (voluptuous = having large breasts and hips)

via GIPHY

This word was first recorded in English in 1911. Did you know that it comes from shortening the word vampire?

Example sentence:

Any man who falls in love with Chloe is a fool. She’s a heartless vamp who’s beguiled half the executives in New York into lavishing diamonds on her.