Plural of gouvernante; multiple female governesses or supervisors of children in households.
French plural form of 'gouvernante'. The '-es' ending is typical French pluralization, preserving the original form when the word is used in English in a French context.
When English borrowed 'gouvernante' from French, they kept the French plural too—this happens a lot with words that maintain their prestige or specialty meaning, like 'salons' or 'femmes fatales'!
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