porteuse

Porteuse is a feminine French noun derived from porter, meaning carrier or bearer. The corresponding masculine form is porteur. In standard usage, porteuse refers to a female who carries or transports something for others, and it appears in various everyday and specialized contexts.

In everyday language, porteuse designates a person who carries items or people. Examples include porteuse de bagages (baggage carrier) at a hotel or transport hub, and porteuse d’eau (water carrier) in historical or rural settings. The term is somewhat formal or old-fashioned in modern usage, where the more general gender-neutral terms may be preferred.

In medicine and public health, porteuse denotes an individual who harbors a pathogen without showing symptoms. A porteuse ou porteuse saine (healthy carrier) can shed microorganisms and contribute to transmission, even though the person is asymptomatic. This sense is common in epidemiology and infectious disease discussions.

In science and engineering, porteuse appears in the field of telecommunications and signal processing as the carrier wave that is modulated to convey information. La porteuse is a standard phrase in French telecommunications literature. In physics, the concept of a carrier of electric charge is often expressed with terms like porteur de charge; porteuse may be used in some contexts or stylistic choices, but porteur is more typical in technical writing.

La porteuse also extends metaphorically to any entity that carries or enables something else, such as a carrier device or framework that supports a project or system. The precise meaning of porteuse depends on the domain and context. See also porteur.