Sapphic

Sapphic comes from the name of Sappho, an ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos whose surviving verse expressed love and desire for women. Today it works as an umbrella term for women, nonbinary people, and woman-aligned people who are attracted to women. It is broader than lesbian, which usually means a woman attracted only to women; sapphic also gathers in bisexual, pansexual, and queer people whose attraction includes women. The defining feature is a direction of attraction rather than one fixed orientation. The word has surged in popularity on social media and in music and dating spaces as a warm, poetic alternative to more clinical labels.