masculinity

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French masculinité (1520),^[2][3][4] from masculin (“masculine”) and the suffix -ité.^[2][3] The OED compares an isolated Old French masculinité (about 1268) and Medieval Latin masculinitas, found in British sources from the 13th century.^[2] The French adjective is from Latin masculīnus (“male, of masculine gender”), from masculus (“male”), a diminutive of mās (“male person”), which is of unknown origin.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being masculine; the qualities regarded as characteristic of men: 1571, in T. Hill's Contemplation of Mankinde.^[2] Etymonline dates the word only to 1748,^[5] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid-18th century;^[4] the OED's revised entry (2000) found the earlier record.^[2] Etymonline notes that masculineness was used earlier in the same sense, from the 1660s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its central meaning, maleness or manliness, the qualities thought of as typical of men.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster also allows it to mean the degree of being masculine, as measured in psychology.^[3] George Eliot used it in The Mill on the Floss (1860) for men collectively, a rare use that did not last.^[2] From 1877 the plural masculinities was occasionally used for things or attitudes seen as characteristic of men.^[2]

Timeline

• 1571 – the state of being masculine; manliness.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1748.^[5]
• 1660s – the earlier synonym masculineness.^[5]
• 1860 – men collectively (rare, obsolete).^[2]
• 1877 – plural, things or attitudes regarded as characteristic of men (rare).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality, state or degree of being masculine: changing ideas of masculinity.^[3][2]
2. The qualities regarded as characteristic of men; manliness.^[2][4]

Related words

• male
• masculine
• masculinize
• femininity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com