Lesbian means of a woman attracted to other women. A lesbian couple, lesbian writers, the lesbian community.
It works as adjective and noun, and it is the plain descriptive word rather than a euphemism. The name comes from the Greek island of Lesbos, where the poet Sappho lived and wrote of love between women.
1adjectivelesbianOf a woman attracted to other women.
“The film tells the story of a lesbian couple who want to adopt a child.”
lesbian is a quality.
From Lesbos, the Greek island where the poet Sappho lived, whose name also gives sapphic.
Ancient Greek
Λέσβος
Latin
Lesbiana
English, today
lesbian
From Latin Lesbiana, from Ancient Greek Λέσβος + Latin adjective suffix -iana; by reference to Sappho of Lesbos (whence also sapphist, sapphic), known for her sentimental poems about women. This sense of the word may have been borrowed from, or influenced by, the German cognate lesbisch, where it is found in medical literature from the 1830s.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA