A female devourer; a woman who consumes or destroys greedily (archaic or literary term).
From 'devourer' with the '-ess' suffix applied to create a feminine form, following the pattern of 'actor/actress' or 'prince/princess'. The '-ess' suffix comes from Old French and Latin origins.
This word is almost entirely obsolete because modern English mostly stopped making feminine versions of nouns (we say 'female devourer' now)—but finding 'devouress' in old texts shows how English obsessively gendered every profession and agent noun.
The -ess suffix historically marked female versions of agent nouns, often diminishing professional status or creating artificial gender distinction where the base term (devourer) was already gender-neutral.
Use 'devourer' regardless of gender. The -ess suffix perpetuates outdated gendering of occupation/role nouns.
["devourer"]
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.