English Explanatory Dictionary

feminine

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of or pertaining to the female gender.
  2. Of or pertaining to the female sex; biologically female, not male.
  3. Belonging to females; typically used by females.
  4. Having the qualities stereotypically associated with women: nurturing, not aggressive, sensual; womanly.
  5. Of, pertaining or belonging to the female grammatical gender, in languages that have gender distinctions.
  6. Being of the feminine class or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.
  7. Being inflected in agreement with a feminine noun.
  8. Having the vowel harmony of a front vowel.
  9. Following or ending on an unstressed syllable.
noun
  1. That which is feminine.
  2. A woman.
  3. The feminine gender.
  4. A word of the feminine gender.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɛmɪnɪn/ /ˈfɛmənɪn/ en-us-feminine.ogg

Word forms

feminine more feminine most feminine f. f fœminine feminines

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-der. Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ Proto-Italic *θēmanā Proto-Italic *fēmanā Latin fēmina Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnus Latin fēminīnusder. Old French femininbor. Middle English femynyne English feminine From Middle English feminine, femynyne, femynyn, from Old French feminin, feminine, from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-eh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”). Related to fetus, feminism, filial, fellatio.

Synonyms

caring ladylike nurturing beauty fem feminine femme girlish girly ladyish maidenly matronly womanish Of a man camp effeminate epicene fruity soft swish unmanly unmasculine female womanly

Antonyms

male manly butch masculine neuter androgynous

Related words

she- female

Derived words

antifeminine cisfeminine feminine caesura feminine ending feminine hygiene femininely feminineness feminine of center feminine product feminine rhyme femininism femininity femininization femininize feminize feminoid hyperfeminine infeminine masculofeminine nonfeminine overfeminine pseudofeminine superfeminine suprafeminine transfeminine ultrafeminine unfeminine

Translations

Albanian: femëror Southern Altai: тижи Arabic: مُؤَنَّث Armenian: իգական Belarusian: жано́чы Breton: benel Bulgarian: же́нски Cebuano: pangbabaye Chechen: зударийн род Chinese Mandarin: 陰性的 /阴性的 Cornish: benow Czech: ženský Danish: hunkøns- Dutch: vrouwelijk Finnish: feminiininen French: féminin Galician: feminino Georgian: მდედრობითი სქესი Georgian: მდედრობითი German: feminin German: weiblich Greek: θηλυκός Ancient Greek: θηλυκός Hebrew: נקבה Hindi: स्त्रीलिंग Hungarian: nőnemű Icelandic: kvenkyns- Indonesian: feminin Irish: baininscneach Italian: femminile Japanese: 女性 Khmer: ភេទស្រី Korean: 여성 Korean: 녀성 Latin: fēminīnus Latvian: sieviešu Latvian: sieviešu dzimtes Lithuanian: moteriškos giminės Lithuanian: moteriškas Macedonian: женски Maltese: femminili Manx: bwoirrin Marathi: स्त्रीलिंगी Neapolitan: femminile Norwegian Bokmål: feminin Norwegian Bokmål: hunkjønn
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