Sapphire

Sapphire

1. A female given name from English from the precious stone.
   • 2015, Sharon Bolton, Little Black Lies, Corgi Books, →ISBN, page 179:

     I asked her once how a little girl who didn't have blue eyes ended up being called Sapphire. She pursed her lips for a few seconds, clearly wondering how she could get away with not telling me.
     'My older brother is called Mistral,' she said in the end. 'My younger sister is Blaze. I'd say I was the lucky one.'
     As I say, hippy parents.

• Sapphira

Sapphire (plural Sapphires)

1. A stereotype of an aggressive and domineering black woman.
   • 2010, C. Henderson, Imagining the Black Female Body:

     When black women speak up about indignities, they are Sapphires. When black women stand up for their rights, they are Sapphires.

   • 2019, Marquita M. Gammage, Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers, Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood:

     Described as feisty wenches, seductive Jezebels, or loud and angry Sapphires, Black women's public persona has long been dominated by these images.

• paperish, papisher