feminine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfem.ɪ.nɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English femynyn, borrowed from Old French feminin,^[2][3][4][5] from Latin fēminīnus (“feminine, at first in the grammatical sense”),^[2][3] from fēmina (“woman, female”), literally “she who suckles”,^[3][2] from Proto-Indo-European *dhe(i)- (“to suck”), the root also of fēlō (“to suck”) and fīlius (“son”).^[3][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of grammatical gender: probably about 1350;^[2] of the female sex, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Female, in Chaucer's House of Fame, is from about 1380.^[2] Characteristic of women, womanly, is from the mid-15th century,^[3][6] and womanish, effeminate, from about 1430.^[6] Feminine rhyme is a term of prosody from the 18th century.^[4] Trench notes that the modern distinction between feminine, womanly, and effeminate, womanish, is of fairly recent growth.^[7] Femininity is from about 1390.^[2] Feminism was formed in the mid-19th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – feminine (grammar).^[2]
• c. 1380 – female.^[2]
• c. 1390 – femininity.^[2]
• c. 1430 – womanish.^[6]
• mid-15th century – womanly.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or relating to women or girls; female.
2. Having qualities traditionally thought of as typical of women.
3. Effeminate; womanish.
4. (grammar) Of the gender that includes most words for females.

Noun

1. (grammar) The feminine gender, or a word in it.

Word family

• femininely
• feminineness
• antifeminine
• femininity
• feminize
• hyperfeminine
• overfeminine
• pseudofeminine

Related words

• female
• feminism
• fetus
• filial

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker