Femme fatale is a loanword. We will look at the definition of the term femme fatale, where it came from, and some examples of its use in sentences.
A femme fatale is a seductive woman who brings ruin upon a person who becomes infatuated or obsessed with her. A femme fatale may become a lover or hold out the promise of becoming a lover; she uses her physical attributes and powers of psychological manipulation to use her victim to gain power or material goods, or simply because it amuses her to control her victim. The femme fatale is a literary trope; it is a catchall for any familiar thing that recurs in art, media, politics, or social interaction, even if the recurring element is not figurative. The femme fatale is particularly popular in the film noir genre. The expression femme fatale is a loanword from the French; it literally means dangerous woman. The term came into use in English sometime in the nineteenth century; its popularity soared in the latter half of the twentieth century. The plural form of femme fatale is femme fatales.
Examples
Over time, they meet Faye Valentine, a seductive femme fatale with a talent for finding trouble and a severe gambling problem. (Daily Beacon)
The notorious femme fatale targeted victims while providing services at entertainment venues and had clear divisions of work with Fa while conducting the atrocities, the court said. (Shanghai Daily)
The femme fatale is a stock character of classic film noir and hard-boiled detective stories — the seductive, fast-talking dame who lures a man into a trap of his own making. (Psychology Today)