sex kitten

noun

"sex-kitten" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sex kitten” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A woman who is both sexually desirable and sexually active.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sex-kitten · sex kitten · English

sex kitten · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for sex kitten
PropertyValue
Headwordsex kitten
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “sex kitten” in English

sex kittenranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sex kitten is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A woman who is both sexually desirable and sexually active.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sex kitten, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Coined circa 1958 to describe French starlet Brigitte Bardot, who appeared in the 1957 film And God Created Woman. The correct English form is sex kitten, spelled S-E-X- -K-I-T-T-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A woman who is both sexually desirable and sexually active.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how sex kitten appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Even the Muppets — as mainstream and heterosexual as some of them may be — are favorites among many gay men; Miss Piggy, that porcine sex-kitten, adorns many a wall in gay bars.

Etymology

Coined circa 1958 to describe French starlet Brigitte Bardot, who appeared in the 1957 film And God Created Woman.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sex kitten"?
"sex kitten" is spelled S-E-X- -K-I-T-T-E-N.
What does "sex kitten" mean?
As a noun, "sex kitten" means: A woman who is both sexually desirable and sexually active.
What is the origin of the word "sex kitten"?
Coined circa 1958 to describe French starlet Brigitte Bardot, who appeared in the 1957 film And God Created Woman. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list