gamine /ga-MEEN/. noun or adjective. A playfully mischievous, pert, usually petite, girl. A female street urchin. A boyish looking young woman; an elfish tomboy. A borrowing from French gamin (a boy who lives on the streets), originally meaning just a young boy or a glassmaker’s assistant. Earlier origin unknown.
“…her arms outstretched, face beaming, overwhelmed with joy and music: Coming in late to vespers, her color high, strange grasses in her gamine, slightly flyaway hair.” (David Rakoff)
“…in a perfect inversion, the young lady at the table sprang out of that exact position, and Howard registered in his peripheral vision a gamine type with spidery-lashed wet eyes, and arms of sinew and bone like a ballet dancer’s.” (Zadie Smith)
“Her skin had the patina of an outdoorswoman. She had recently cut her bright blond hair, a practical gesture that lent her a gamine look.” (Anita Shreve)
“This had nothing to do with Graham Greene. It had to do with the removal of his friend’s overcoat, revealing: a woman of a certain age but still fiercely gamine, in purple angora sweater and skintight shiny black trousers.” (Martin Amis)