The residents argued that only people from the island of Lesbos had the right to use the term, reports the BBC.

But an Athens court ruled there was no justification for their contention that they felt slighted, saying the word did not define the islanders' identity.

"This is a good decision for lesbians everywhere," Vassilis Chirdaris, lawyer for the Gay and Lesbian Union of Greece, told Reuters news agency.

The island's name was applied to gay women in acknowledgement of the female poet Sappho, who wrote love poems about both women and men in about 600 BC.

The man spearheading the case, publisher Dimitris Lambrou, had claimed that international dominance of the word in its sexual context violated the human rights of the islanders - who call themselves Lesbians - and disgraces them around the world.

He argued it caused daily problems to the social life of Lesbos's inhabitants.

But the court disagreed, ordering the plaintiffs to pay court expenses of £180, although they could appeal against the decision.