epicene - 4 dictionary results
ep⋅i⋅cene
[ep-i-seen] 
–adjective
| 1. | belonging to, or partaking of the characteristics of, both sexes: Fashions in clothing are becoming increasingly epicene. |
| 2. | flaccid; feeble; weak: an epicene style of writing. |
| 3. | effeminate; unmasculine. |
| 4. | (of Greek and Latin nouns) of the same gender class regardless of the sex of the being referred to, as Latin vulpēs “fox or vixen” is always grammatically feminine. |
| 5. | Grammar. (of a noun or pronoun) capable of referring to either sex, as attendant, chairperson, Kim, one, or they; having common gender. |
–noun
| 6. | a person or thing that is epicene. |
Origin:
1400–50; late ME < L epicoenus of both genders < Gk epíkoinos common to many, equiv. to epi- epi- + koinós common
1400–50; late ME < L epicoenus of both genders < Gk epíkoinos common to many, equiv. to epi- epi- + koinós common
Related forms:
ep⋅i⋅cen⋅ism, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To epicene
| ep·i·cene (ěp'ĭ-sēn') adj.
[Middle English, having only one form of the noun for either gender, from Latin epicoenus, from Greek epikoinos, in common : epi-, epi- + koinos, common; see kom in Indo-European roots.] ep'i·cen'ism n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Epicene
Ep"i*cene\, a. & n. [L. epicoenus, Gr. ?; fr. 'epi` + ? common; cf. F. ['e]pic[`e]ne.]1. Common to both sexes; -- a term applied, in grammar, to such nouns as have but one form of gender, either the masculine or feminine, to indicate animals of both sexes; as boy^s, bos, for the ox and cow; sometimes applied to eunuchs and hermaphrodites. 2. Fig.: Sexless; neither one thing nor the other. The literary prigs epicene. --Prof. Wilson. He represented an epicene species, neither churchman nor layman. --J. A. Symonds.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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epicene
c.1450, originally a grammatical term for nouns that may denote either gender, from L. epicoenus "common," from Gk. epikoinos, from epi- "on" + koinos "common." Extended sense of "characteristic of both sexes" first recorded in Eng. 1601; that of "effeminate" 1633.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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