different between sappho vs sapphic

English

Etymology

From Sapphic.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?sæf.?k/
• Rhymes: -æf?k

Adjective

sapphic (not comparable)

1. Lesbian, relating to lesbianism, or (broadly) to women who are attracted (not necessarily exclusively) to women.
   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22:

     Clinton and I became peripherally involved with a pair of Leckford Road girls who, principally sapphic in their interests, would arrange for sessions of group frolic.

   • 2013, Boze Hadleigh, Broadway Babylon: Glamour, Glitz, and Gossip on the Great White Way, Back Stage Books (?ISBN), page 194:

     [...] and rumor had it that the Margo—Eve relationship was inspired by the bisexual Bankhead and her Skin of Our Teeth understudy [...] (The 1947 film version teamed Humphrey Bogart with sapphic stars Barbara Stanwyck and Alexis Smith.)

   • 2018 December 10, Jess Taylor Weissner, review of Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer, in The Courier, page 18:

     Her lyrics are deeply personal and wide reaching and she weaves in indignation at the state of American politics while simultaneously exploring her identity as a black sapphic [pansexual] woman.

Related terms

• sapphism
• sapphist

Translations

Noun

sapphic (plural sapphics)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Sapphic
   • 1909, The Academy and Literature:

     Though they will not satisfy Mr. T. S. Omond's rules of quantity, and cannot be expected to reach Swinburne's exquisite sense of its balance, they give far more idea of the rhythm of Sappho than the body of English sapphics by other writers.

   • 2002, Michael Paschalis, Horace and Greek Lyric Poetry, Michael Paschalis (?ISBN), page 1:

     Statius, in the Silvae, does offer two “lyric” poems, one in alcaics and one in sapphics, but lyric poetry in any form and of any consequence does not recur until the Christian hymns of St. Ambrose and Prudentius, ...

   • 2016 April 25, DT News [Los Angeles Downtown News], page 17:

     April 29: Thao & The Get Down Stay Down host local rock sapphics Kera & the Lesbians.