A woman of gentle or noble birth; an archaic or obsolete term for a gentlewoman or a woman of quality.
From Old French 'gentrice,' the feminine form of 'gentric' (gentle), with the Latin root gentilis. This form represents an alternative medieval English formation that competed with 'gentlewoman' but eventually lost out.
Words like 'gentrice' show the competitive nature of language evolution—English had multiple ways to say 'noblewoman,' and we still don't fully understand why some won (gentlewoman) while others disappeared (gentrice), lost to history like minor characters in a play.
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