Etymologically
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masculinity

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌmæskjəˈlɪnɪti/[1]

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]

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