chicklit
chicklit Lexical Profile
chicklit Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A genre of popular contemporary fiction written primarily by and for young women, typically focusing with humor and lightheartedness on modern female life, careers, friendships, and romantic relationships.
"The bookstore set up a prominent summer display featuring bestselling romance novels and contemporary chicklit."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often spelled as two words ('chick lit') or hyphenated ('chick-lit'), this informal term is sometimes viewed as dismissive or patronizing by authors and critics when applied broadly to contemporary fiction written by women.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 1980s as playful campus slang for courses on female literary tradition, the term was popularized in the mid-1990s to describe commercial fiction marketed toward young women.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.