word choice - Gigolo is to man as what is to woman?


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth Edition) reads:



gigolo, n. A man who has a continuing sexual relationship with and receives financial support from a woman.



Is there an English word [X] which fits the following definition?



[X], n. A woman who has a continuing sexual relationship with and receives financial support from a man.




Answer



There might have been a word to match the definition, once upon a time.


The English took the word gigolo from the French in the 1920s.


But the word was rather recent in the French language at the time. It had appeared in French, together with its feminine equivalent gigolette, in the middle of the 19th century.


What’s interesting is that there are two suspected origins to the words gigolo and gigolette in French. One of them is that both words derive from the Old English word giglet or giglot, which the OED defines as:



† a.  Originally, a lewd, wanton woman (obs.).
   b.  A giddy, laughing, romping girl.



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