Revision 37872958 of "Doyenne" on enwiki

Doyenne is a French term meaning "oldest woman."  It is used in sentences such as "[[Jeanne Calment]], 'doyenne' de Humanite."  (The word for "oldest man" is 'doyen').  Ironically, there is no word in the English language for "oldest person" (the English language has far more words).  The word became popularized in the English press with the Jeanne Calment stories, but has been used in other instances as well.

==Reference==

http://www.bartleby.com/61/19/D0371900.html