moue means A pout, especially as expressing mock-annoyance or flirtatiousness. It carries an Arena rating of 1511, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, moue ranks #631 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,106 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,178 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #2,757 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
moue is pronounced /muː/.
Why “moue” is a great word
A fleeting facial gesture of exaggeratedly pursed lips, typically expressing a petulant, feigned displeasure or a playful flirtation, from French moue, from Old French moe ("grimace"), from Frankish *mauwa ("pout, protruding lip"), entering English in the mid-19th century. Unlike a frown, which signals genuine concentration or distaste, or a scowl, which broadcasts open hostility, the moue is a performance—a punctuation mark of affectation. It is the theatrical pout of a coquette caught by a suitor's gaze, the mock-annoyance of a friend told a harmless secret cannot be shared, the upward flick of eyes beneath half-lowered lids that turns a complaint into an invitation—a minor art form of the socially adept, where the appearance of displeasure is itself the pleasure.
Etymology
Borrowed from French moue, from Old French moe (“grimace”), from Frankish *mauwa (“pout, protruding lip”). Doublet of mow ("grimace").
noun
- A pout, especially as expressing mock-annoyance or flirtatiousness.e.g.“[S]he looked at her face and made a moue in the glass; and never stopped for Laura’s answer to the questions which she had put.” — 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 23, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 221:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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