Ingénue

The ingénue (UK: /ˈæ̃ʒənjuː, -ʒeɪn-/, US: /ˈæn(d)ʒənjuː, ˈɑːn-/, French: [ɛ̃ʒeny] ⓘ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent.

The term comes from the feminine form of the French adjective ingénu meaning "ingenuous" or innocent, virtuous and candid.

Typically, the ingénue is beautiful, kind, gentle, sweet, virginal and often naïve; additionally, she is often in mental, emotional, or even physical danger—usually a target of the cad, whom she may have mistaken for the hero.

The vamp (femme fatale) is often a foil for the ingénue (or the damsel in distress).

In opera and musical theater, the ingénue is usually sung by a lyric soprano.