rêveuse

Rêveuse is a French feminine noun and adjective. As a noun, it denotes a female dreamer—someone who dreams, fantasizes, or tends to daydream. In literary or poetic usage, it can carry a gentle, idealized sense of fanciful thinking. As an adjective, rêveuse agrees with a feminine noun to mean dreamlike or dreamy, as in une atmosphère rêveuse (a dreamy atmosphere) or une jeune fille rêveuse (a dreamy girl). The masculine equivalents are rêveur for the noun and rêveur as an adjective; the feminine form for the adjective is rêveuse. Plural forms are rêveux for masculine and rêveuses for feminine.

Etymology: Rêveuse derives from rêve, meaning dream, which itself stems from the verb rêver (to dream). The word ultimately goes back to Latin somnium through Old French, following the common French path from dream to dream-related descriptors.

Usage and context: Rêveuse is frequently found in French literature and criticism to describe characters or moods marked by daydreaming, imagination, or introspective serenity. Depending on tone, it can be affectionate, nostalgic, or slightly melancholic. In everyday language, it may describe someone who is thoughtful and imaginative, or, less charitably, impractical.

See also: rêve, rêveur. Notes: gender agreement affects form, with rêveuse used for feminine nouns, and rêveux (or rêveur in colloquial usage) for masculine; the feminine plural is rêveuses.