feminine
pronunciation
How to pronounce feminine in British English:
UK [ˈfemənɪn]
How to pronounce feminine in American English:
US [ˈfemənɪn]
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- Noun:
- a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to females or to objects classified as female
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- Adjective:
- associated with women and not with men
- of grammatical gender
- befitting or characteristic of a woman especially a mature woman
- (music or poetry) ending on an unaccented beat or syllable
Word Origin
- feminine (adj.)
- mid-14c., "of the female sex," from Old French femenin (12c.) "feminine, female; with feminine qualities, effeminate," from Latin femininus "feminine" (in the grammatical sense at first), from femina "woman, female," literally "she who suckles," from root of felare "to suck, suckle" (see fecund). Usual modern sense of "woman-like, proper to or characteristic of women" is recorded from mid-15c. Related: Femininely. The interplay of meanings now represented roughly in female "characteristic of the sex that bears children," feminine "having qualities considered appropriate to a woman," and effeminate "having female qualities in a bad sense, unmanly," and the attempt to keep them clear of each other, has led to many coinages. Among nouns, in addition to feminity "womanishness," femininity, femaleness, feminineness (1810, "female qualities"), there is feminitude (1878); feminility "womanliness" (1824); feminie "womankind" (late 14c.); femality (17c., "effeminacy;" 1754 "female nature"); feminacy "female nature" (1829); feminicity "quality or condition of being a woman" (1843). Also feminality (1640s, "quality or state of being female"), from rare adjective feminal "female, belonging to a woman" (late 14c.), from Old French feminal. And femineity "quality or state of being feminine," also "effeminate; womanly," from Latin femineus "of a woman, pertaining to a woman."
Example
- 1. In fact , his form was quite feminine .
- 2. Feminine beauty was built in its very blood and soul .
- 3. They were exceedingly feminine , but practical and brimming with power .
- 4. Perhaps this feminine touch will help , as women appear to be put off by the muscular language in which male politicians clothe their arguments for independence .
- 5. At all events , his most tempting acting parts are feminine ones .