Demimonde

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Demi-monde is a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically to courtesans supported by wealthy lovers.^[1] The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play called Le Demi-Monde, by Alexandre Dumas fils,^[2] dealing with the way that prostitution at that time threatened the institution of marriage. The demi-monde was the world occupied by elite men and the women who entertained them and whom they kept.^{[citation needed]}