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μισογυνία

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word μισογυνία

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
100s BC Antipater of Tarsus More words from the 2nd century BC
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek μισογύνης
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek μισογυνία (misogunía)
English misogyny

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /miː.so.ɡy.ní.aː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /mi.so.ʝyˈni.a/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /mi.so.ʝyˈni.a/[1]

Forms

μῑσογῠνῐ́ᾱ (mīsoguníā) f (genitive μῑσογῠνῐ́ᾱς); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is the abstract noun from Ancient Greek μισογύνης (mīsogúnēs, “woman-hater”) + -ία (-íā).[2][3][4] Wiktionary and Πάπυρος derive it from the adjective μισόγυνος (mīsógunos, “hating women”) instead.[1][5] Both are compounds of μῖσος (mîsos, “hatred”), or of the verb μισέω (mīséō, “to hate”), and γυνή (gunḗ, “woman”).[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is by the Stoic Antipater of Tarsus in the 2nd century BC, for hatred of women.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word appears again among the fragments of the early Stoics, and it remained rare in Ancient Greek.[6]

Modern Greek μισογυνία (misogynía) continues the Late Greek word.[3] It means the attitude of a misogynist, aversion to and hatred of women.[5] The English word misogyny appeared in the 1650s, from New Latin misogynia, from the Greek.[4]

Timeline

  • 2nd century BC – Antipater of Tarsus uses it for hatred of women.[6][7]
  • 1650s – The English word misogyny is first recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Hatred of women, misogyny.[6][7][8]
  • μισογύνης (mīsogúnēs)
  • μισόγυνος (mīsógunos)
  • γυνή (gunḗ)
  • English misogyny

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
  3. ^ a b c Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  6. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
  8. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
Cite this entry

“Μισογυνία.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BC%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BF%CE%B3%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B1. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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