jolie laide means A woman who is strikingly, magnetically attractive despite features that are not conventionally pretty; beauty found in irregularity. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “jolie laide” is a great word
JOLIE LAIDE — [Noun] A woman whose magnetic attractiveness derives not from conventional prettiness but from the compelling dissonance of unconventional or irregular features. From the French jolie laide, literally "pretty-ugly," from jolie ("pretty") and laide ("ugly"). Unlike a belle, a paragon of established harmony, or a pulchritudinous figure, an embodiment of untroubled perfection, the jolie laide fascinates through a fracture in the expected symmetry. It is the arresting gap between two front teeth that gives a smile its wicked candor, the sharp angle of a jaw that lends a profile its haunting severity, or the dark, knowing asymmetry of a gaze that refuses to be merely lovely—a quiet argument against a world that prefers its aesthetics easily catalogued.
noun
- A woman who is strikingly, magnetically attractive despite features that are not conventionally pretty; beauty found in irregularity.