The origin of the phrase is unclear, but it is thought to have started in Canada, and later became an established term by dating website cougardate.com. Famous women who have been classed as cougars in the past include Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock, Madonna and Mariah Carey, and even the likes of Cleopatra.

Why do they call it cougar?

After all, cougars, by definition, are stalk-and-ambush predators. The term, which germinated in the bars of Vancouver in 2001, originally referred to a woman in her early 40s pursuing a man in his late 20s, but has come to define any woman in a romance with a younger man.