feminineadj.n.
/ˈfɛmᵻnᵻn/, U.S. /ˈfɛmənən/ A. adj.
I. Senses relating to language.
1.
a. Grammar. Designating the gender to which belong words classified as female on the basis of sex or some arbitrary distinction, such as form. Of a word: belonging to this gender. Of a suffix, inflection, etc.: used with or in forming words of this gender.In quot. 1632: consisting largely of words of this gender.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > gender > [adjective] > feminine
femininec1390
fem.1573
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > gender > [adjective] > feminine > consisting of feminine words
feminine1632
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > gender > [adjective] > feminine > of a termination
feminine1921
c1390 (?c1350) St. Theodora l. 109 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 36 (MED) Hire name, þat was femynyn Of gendre, heo turned in to masculyn.
a1504 J. Holt Lac Puerorum (1508) sig. Di Some nownes..be called of the dubyn gendre, the whiche without ony discrecyon of sygnificacyon be supposed now to the masculyne, and now to the feminyne terminacyon.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Love in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 53 So speke I, in feminine gendre in general.
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 338 This name Enak..in the plurall number, hath both the masculine and the feminine forme.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 472 Spewing forth also this Fœminine Latine: Nam mansueta et misericordiosa est Ecclesia, O Ecclesia Romana!
1650 E. Reeve Introd. Greeke Tongue 24 Dually and plurally they are declined like the Feminine Article.
1720 J. Henley Compl. Linguist No. 6. 56 The eight following are Masculine, under Feminine ending.
1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. iv. xiii. 169 A common scold, communis rixatrix, (for our law-latin confines it to the feminine gender), is a public nusance to her neighbourhood.
a1831 J. Stoddart Gram. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 30/1 Every noun denoting a female animal is feminine.
1871 H. J. Roby Gram. Lat. Lang. I. §339 The substantive stems in -a (chiefly feminine), and the feminine form of those adjectives which have stems in -o, are declined alike.
1921 H. P. Brown Trees N.Y. State 20 In general the generic names of trees are of feminine gender and require specific names with feminine ending.
1961 S. Resnick Essent. French Gram. 24 French adjectives have four forms—masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.
1999 Jewish News Greater Phoenix (Nexis) 10 Sept. 4 Grammatically, Hebrew is a gendered language; every noun and its corresponding verb form is either masculine or feminine.
b. Prosody and Music. Of the ending of a verse, phrase, etc.: having the final syllable or note unaccented, esp. in feminine ending; (of a verse, phrase, rhythm, etc.) characterized by such an ending. Cf. feminine rhyme n. at Compounds 1.
ΚΠ
1603 S. Daniel Def. Ryme in Panegyrike (new ed.) sig. H5 Two feminine numbers (or Trochies, if so you wil call them).
1657 J. D. in J. Poole Eng. Parnassus Pref. sig. a 6v To avoid feminine rimes, such as charity and parity.
1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 9. 68 The lyric will be preferred, for its fire and irregularity; unless, perhaps, the feminine verse, which consists of thirteen syllables, be judged more favourable to female volubility.
1815 J. Black tr. A. W. Schlegel Course Lect. Dramatic Art I. viii. 314 This verse..is greatly inferior to the English and German rhymeless iambic, from its uniform feminine termination.
1833 J. Montgomery Lect. Poetry & Gen. Lit. iv. 149 French metre..requires certain reciprocities in rhyming (the alternation of what are called masculine and feminine endings).
1883 Monthly Musical Rec. Dec. 276/2 A feminine rhythm is one which terminates on an unaccented part of the bar—or, rather, on a part of the bar less weighty than the first accented part.
1922 W. Strunk Eng. Metres ii. 24 Some lines..have one or two unstressed syllables following the last stress. Such lines are said to have a feminine ending or a double feminine ending.
1955 J. A. Westrup in H. van Thal Fanfare for E. Newman xiii. 188 The feminine endings in the melody are similar to those found in early eighteenth-century instrumental music.
1994 J. Brooks in I. Fenlon Early Music Hist. 67 The combination of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ verse in equal parts meshes well with the androgynous ideal of the Platonist atmosphere in which Ronsard worked.
c. (the) e feminine [after French e fémenin (1550 in Middle French, or earlier)] : (in French) a word-final e, given a reduced pronunciation similar to schwa; (also) a similar vowel in Middle English. Later also: a mute or silent word-final e. Now historical and rare.The e feminine is no longer sounded in French as a word-final syllable, but the term is sometimes used to denote any e with a reduced pronunciation.
ΚΠ
1660 H. Savage Reasons shewing no Need of Reformation of Publique 7 The English cannot pronounce the E feminine but by a kinde of stifling of it.
1729 A. Boyer Compl. French-master (ed. 10) 10 The E Feminine is drown'd when joyn'd to a Word that begins with a Vowel; as in Une belle Ame, pronounce Une bell' Ame.
1775 T. Tyrwhitt Canterbury Tales of Chaucer Pref. Ess. iii. §16 Nothing will be..of such..use for supplying the deficiencies of Chaucer's metre, as the pronunciation of the e feminine.
1824 J. Johnson Typographia II. 37 In English, e is marked with a grave in poetry, to prevent its being taken for the e feminine, which, not being sounded, would shorten the measure of the verse.
1878 Programm der Wöhlerschule zu Frankfurt 12 Many words which in Chaucer's time terminated in e, originally ended in a; this broader sound first passed to the thinner sound of e feminine, and then only to e mute.
1904 Mod. Lang. Notes Nov. 202/2 The authors of the sixteenth century are unanimous in their testimony that among the French of their time the e feminine final was sounded very distinctly.
II. Senses relating to physical gender.
2.
a. Of a person or animal: belonging to the female sex; female. Also: designating the female sex.Now largely superseded by female.In quot. 1860 (probably) humorously in extended use: a piece of beef from a cow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > female > [adjective]
femalea1382
femininec1425
she1531
fem.1691
cow1751
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 3796 (MED) Þe childe..ȝif it falle þat it be femynyn, With þe wommen abide stille it shal.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 1365 Y saugh perpetually y-stalled A femynyne creature.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 434/2 I had as leue he bare them both a bare charitie, as with ye frayle feminyne sexe fall to farre in loue.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 279 Edmond..None issue had neither male ne feminine.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 80 But..a soule Feminine saluteth vs. View more context for this quotation
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (1625) 319 Of which Manly fœminine people [sc. the Amazons] ancient authors disagree.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 423 Those male, These Feminine . View more context for this quotation
1739 tr. A. Banier Mythol. & Fables Ancients I. iii. iii. 190 This same Author, and after him Vossius, reduce almost all the Divinities of the feminine Sex to the Moon.
1775 Monthly Rev. June 476 Meed, or Meet..seems to have been a feminine deity.
1845 Encycl. Brit. at Jury A jury of matrons is resorted to..when a feminine prisoner condemned to death pleads pregnancy in stay of execution.
1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner (1887) 106 A side of feminine beef was..obtained.
1869 T. Inman Anc. Faiths embodied in Anc. Names II. 172 The [mating] instinct is the fiercest in the masculine, although there is sometimes a very strong one in the feminine animal.
1908 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 18 Aug. 7/4 Give each feminine competitor an empty pin paper which she is required to fill in a certain length of time.
1991 Dance Res. 9 28 There are other Directors, who are in charge, but being of the feminine gender, they are not listed as such.
b. Designating an object deemed to be of the female sex, typically on the basis of some perceived or assigned quality considered particularly female. Often contrasted with a corresponding object deemed to be male and designated masculine.Frequently, esp. in early use, of a celestial object or sign of the zodiac.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > female > [adjective] > of objects
femalea1398
femininec1450
c1450 Treat. Elections of Times (Ashm.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Septentrional Cancer, Scorpio, & Pisces: thes 3 bene of one nature: cold & moyst, septentrional, femynyne.
1547 A. Boorde Pryncyples Astronamye ii. sig. Avi The .iiii. triplycyte is the Septemtryonall triplycite which is flewmatick & femynyne & this tryplicite hath .iii. other sygnes. Cancer Scorpio & pisces.
?1570 tr. Shepardes Kalendar (rev. ed.) sig. Lv The Moone..is called feminine or female, and is called amonge the shepardes the Lady of the night.
1653 H. More Second Lash of Alazonomastix (1713) 83 Five is acknowledged..to be Male and Female, consisting of Three and Two, the two first Masculine and Feminine numbers.
a1658 J. Cleveland To his Hermaphrodite in Wks. (1687) 19 We chastise the God of Wine With Water that is Feminine.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Quarters of Heaven Certain Intersections of the Spheres..of which two are termed Oriental, and counted Masculine; the other two being Occidental and Feminine.
1751 J. Harris Hermes i. iv. 47 The Earth..is universally Feminine.
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 119 Ye juried signs..Henceforth ye shall shine in vain to man..Earthy, or moist, or feminine, or fixed.
1885 T. Harley Moon Lore 62 To the swain the flowers which resemble his idol, as the lily and the rose, are always feminine.
1917 Law Notes Feb. 205/1 If it be permissible to refer to the genus cat as feminine and to the genus dog as masculine.
1941 D. C. Allen Star Crossed Renaissance iv. 175 The astrologers also felt that a day on which Venus, the feminine planet, and Mars, the male planet, were conjoined was a favorable occasion for a marriage.
1999 R. Roberts Sexual Generations iv. 93 The identification of ships, cars, and planes as feminine.
3. † c. Such as a woman is considered to be capable of. Obsolete. rare.
a. Of a personal attribute, an action, etc.: characteristic of, befitting, or regarded as appropriate to the female sex. Of a woman: having or exhibiting the qualities, behaviour, or appearance considered as typical of the female sex; womanly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > characteristic of
womanisha1393
womanlyc1400
feminec1425
femininec1425
she1531
wifish1535
female1566
ladylike1566
womenish1604
tender-hefteda1616
ladied1628
feminary1630
feminile1650
feminal1875
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 2058 (MED) Sirenes, Meremaydnes..Ben of her shap fysches..And vpper-more Kynde doth compasse Hem to apere femynyn of face.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 154 Femynyne, or woman lyke, muliebris.
c1450 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Durh.) (1961) v. l. 332 She ansewerde, moste femynyne of chere, Full prudently to euery questyon.
1555 R. Eden tr. V. Biringucci Pyrotechnia in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 340 Of complexion feminine and flegmatike in comparason to gold.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 219 To such as be of a fœminine and delicate bodie.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 458 Her [sc. Eve's] Heav'nly forme Angelic, but more soft, and Feminine . View more context for this quotation
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 149. ⁋11 My sister..the young ladies are hourly tormenting by every art of feminine persecution.
1766 H. Walpole Let. to Gray 25 Jan. Her manner is soft and feminine, and..without any declared pretensions.
1835 E. Bulwer-Lytton Rienzi I. i. i. 5 There was something almost feminine in the tender deference with which he appeared to listen.
1860 W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) I. 47 Those feminine attractions of gentleness and pliability.
1916 H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap v. 213 Hetty..looking so fresh and nifty and feminine.
1969 Weekly Mail (Madras) 26 July 10/4 Performed by women possessing feminine grace.
1986 J. Burchill Beauty & Beasts in Sex & Sensibility (1992) 71 One often wishes the girls would lash out with their Cutex claws..but they are so well-drilled and passively feminine that they dare not even defend themselves.
2000 Big Issue 10 Apr. 8/3 I used to kid myself it was proof that I was in touch with my feminine side when, in fact, it was a lame excuse to have a good grizzle while watching Little House On The Prairie.
b. Designating an item, esp. of clothing, designed for women; adapted for use by women or girls.
ΚΠ
1592 R. Dallington tr. F. Colonna Hypnerotomachia f. 20v The cause of so much rebating was to shew that this was the temple of a goddesse, for chamfering dooth set foorth the plytes of feminine apparell.
1597 A. Munday tr. 2nd Pt. Palmerin D'Oliua lvii. sig. X5 Stoute Hercules.., did not hee for the loue of Iole, weare feminine garments, and spin among women?
1633 W. Prynne Histrio-mastix i. 197 Salvian, doth exceedingly tax the Romanes for permitting men to weare womans apparell... ‘When men..cover their heads with feminine attires..; what else was it, but the shame of the Roman Empire?’
1798 True Briton 31 Dec. 3/1 We see her..walking about the garden..in her feminine dress, though she must be exposed to the observation of the brotherhood.
1814 New Monthly Mag. Feb. 30/1 A figure clad in feminine garb was seen to glide with slow but certain step.
1893 Bicycling News 23 Sept. 198/2 The ideal feminine saddle..is found at last.
1915 A. Marshall Old Order Changeth (1918) viii. 97 Herbert Fuller looked round..with distaste... The dining-table was cluttered up with a sewing machine and a disorderly pile of feminine gear.
1994 Times (Nexis) 9 Feb. An obsession with feminine clothing, often shoes and underwear, is the commonest form of fetishism.
2002 J. Gilder Ghost Image xlix. 286 Several bottles..of cream, shampoo and hair spray, plus makeup and the instruments for its application—the usual feminine articles.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > as woman is capable of
femininea1682
a1682 Sir T. Browne Let. to Friend (1690) 7 Some Dreams I confess may admit of easie and feminine Exposition.
d. Of a thing: having characteristics conventionally associated with the female sex, such as prettiness and delicacy.
ΚΠ
1856 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Flower Garden 105 The Veronicas [have]..something graceful, feminine, and fragile in their aspect.
1873 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. 2nd Ser. 23 The most virile of poets cannot be adequately rendered in the most feminine of languages.
1901 W. J. Locke Usurper ii. 25 The writing was dainty, feminine, characterful.
1937 Amer. Home Apr. 156/4 The gold framed mirror over the chest of drawers, the feminine little desk with its individual black chair, are all nice contrast touches.
1958 N. Coward Diary 10 June (2000) 381 This house is exquisitely ‘bijou’ and a bit feminine for me.
1980 Freemans Catal. Spring 127/2 Check design in feminine pastel shades.
2007 First 1 Oct. 38/1 ‘Floriental’ combines two fragrance families—florals and orientals—to create soft feminine scents.
4. Chiefly depreciative. Of a man's qualities, actions, or appearance: characteristic of or befitting a woman. Of a man: possessing or exhibiting such qualities or behaviour; effeminate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > man > [adjective] > effeminate man
womanisha1393
womanlike1440
feminatea1533
effeminate1549
womanlike1565
cockney1573
feminine1614
androgynous1628
muliebrious1652
petit maître1729
Miss Nancyish1855
gynaecomorphous1865
gynandrous1878
girly-girly1882
nancified1901
wimbly-wambly1929
tapette1930
queeny1936
female1940
poofed-up1964
pansy-ass1976
wussy1977
effete1981
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ii. l. 2237 Last off echon was Sardanapalle, Most femynyne off condicioun.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Gouernaunce of Princis (1993) viii. 73 Lechery..engenderis jn a man wommanly condiciouns, and jnclynaciouns femynyne and feblis the strenthis.
?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Fiiiv Loude gyglyng and laughyng, is but a folysshe sygne And euydent token, of maners femenyne.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. xviii Rebukyng their timerous heartes, and Feminine audacitie.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. i. §1. 217 Ninias being esteemed no man of warre at all, but altogether feminine.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxi. 112 Not onely to women, but also to men of feminine courage.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 41 He was of so unhappy a feminine temper, that he was allways in a terrible fright.
1793 J. E. Smith Sketch Tour on Continent II. xxvii. 171 St John is very handsome, but rather too feminine.
1849 H. Melville Mardi I. lxxi. 253 His comeliness, however, was so feminine, that he was sometimes called ‘Fonoo’, or the Girl.
1866 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 434/1 A mannish woman only attracts a feminine man.
1912 in P. Farrer Confid. Corr. on Cross Dressing (1997) 34 Is it not possible that one may be masculine in form and feminine mentally?
2000 Big Issue: Teenage Edition 12 June 22/2 Boys are dissed for being either too macho or too feminine.
5. Of or belonging to a woman or girl; of, consisting of, or carried on by women.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > relating to
wifelyeOE
womanisha1393
femalea1398
wivenc1400
feminine1490
womanly1562
gynaecian1640
muliebral1651
feminal1739
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > consisting of women
feminine1490
the world > people > person > woman > [adjective] > carried on by
womanisha1393
female1579
feminine1649
1490 Caxton's Blanchardyn & Eglantine (1962) xlix. 189 She lefte asyde her femenyn wyll.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 354 Which cryed with a femenyne voys.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 322 How be it dyuers haue sith sen her in femenyn figure.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 16 Or wyl you soiourne in this my feminin empyre?
1642 T. Fuller Holy State i. ii. 31 Take notice of some principall of the orders she made in those feminine Academies.
1649 J. Milton Εικονοκλαστης vii. 64 Govern'd and overswaid at home under a Feminine usurpation.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 195. 35 Let there happen but the least Disorder in the Streets, and in an Instant you see the Inequality of the Numbers of Males and Females... The Feminine Crowd on such Occasions is more numerous.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey I. 52 The triumphs of a true feminine heart are short upon these discomfitures.
1825 Asiatic Researches 15 96 We have a..feminine government,..but this lay to the east.
1876 M. E. Braddon Joshua Haggard's Daughter I. 9 The feminine element in the business was supplied by his maiden sister.
1908 Lit. Guide 1 Aug. 123/2 He does..make a remark on feminine achievement in those spheres.
1960 A. C. Mayer Caste & Kinship in Central India 109 The end of the widow's seclusion..is the occasion for quite a large feminine gathering.
2010 Atlantic Monthly June 10/2 A feminine insurrection in pursuit of 1950s-style romance that..may even prove powerful enough to bring boys to their senses.
B. n.
1. Grammar. A word of the feminine gender; (with the) the feminine gender.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > gender > [noun] > feminine > word or form
femininec1450
fem.1656
c1450 in D. Thomson Middle Eng. Grammatical Texts (1984) 33 How knoweste the masculyn? For he is declynyd by hic, the femynyn by hec, the neutre by hoc.
c1450 in D. Thomson Middle Eng. Grammatical Texts (1984) 19 If þe feminyne be drawe out of þe masculyn as domina is drawyn out of dominus.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement iii. f. i Howe the other declynable partes forme their plurell nombres oute of their singulars, the feminynes out of their masculynes.
1583 W. Fulke Def. Transl. Script. x. 319 They haue litle skill in the Hebrue tongue, that thinke it straunge to matche masculines and feminines togither in very good and grammaticall construction.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 114 They call it Zebi, and the feminin herof Zebiah.
1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts f. 52 These Feminines want the Singular Number; Exuviæ, phaleræ.
1706 A. Bedford Temple Musick vii. 117 All Fœminines of the Singular Number, do end in ה.
1779 L. Chambaud Gram. French Tongue (rev. ed.) 415 Feu (late) is used in the feminine, and may be construed both before or after the article.
1809 M. Edgeworth Manœuvring i, in Tales Fashionable Life III. 4 (note) It is to be regretted that a word, used in the days of Charles II,..should have become obsolete; viz. the feminine for intriguer—an intriguess.
1885 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. 25 Seamstress and songstress are double feminines.
1922 C. A. Downer & W. E. Knickerbocker First Course in French 142 Adjectives that end in -el in the masculine, end in -elle in the feminine.
1978 L. Kramer Faggots 256 I think I am becoming a fegalette or whatever is the feminine for fegalim.
2000 S. Franks & T. H. King Handbk. Slavic Clitics iii. ii. 125 The form ne is used only with masculine non-personals, feminines, and neuters after prepositions.
2.
a. Chiefly with the: women collectively; womankind. Now rare.In later use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense B. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > women collectively
wifkinOE
womanOE
womankinc1175
womankindc1175
womenkina1387
womenkinda1387
womanhoodc1405
feminityc1425
femininityc1450
femininec1451
the fair (also gentle, soft, weak, etc.) sex1536
the second sex1536
the woman sex1536
feminie1541
mesdames1552
the fairer (also gentler, softer, weaker, etc.) sex1578
sex1589
ladyhooda1666
fair1687
wimmin1710
womenfolk1729
mesdemoiselles1739
the female of the species1795
femalitiesc1801
ladykind1829
womanity1836
womandom1838
ladydom1843
petticoatery1849
tea-body1865
muslin1884
the skirt1899
quim1909
womyn1975
womxn1991
c1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert (1910) 87 (MED) Now is þe tyme come þat þe welbeloued masculyne with þe welbeloued feminine schuld go oute in-to þe feld of þis world.
a1500 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 273 (MED) Nat only in Englond, but of euery nacion, The femynyng wyl presume men for to gyd.
1541 Schole House of Women sig. Diiiv And were not, two small venyalles The femynyne myght, be gloryfyde.
a1605 A. Montgomerie Poems (S.T.S.) lii. 25 The facultie of famenene is so, Vnto thair freind to be his fo.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 893 Not fill the World at once With Men as Angels without Feminine . View more context for this quotation
1726 C. Johnson Female Fortune-teller ii. 32 Why that's my Business; the Masculine with the Feminine, Sir... I wou'd only know whether the Woman I shall marry will be Black or Brown.
1853 S. J. Hale Woman's Rec. 39/1 It was not till this holy union was dissolved by sin that the distinctive natures of the masculine and the feminine were exhibited.
1895 T. Hardy Jude i. vi. 43 A woman is..unconsciously received by unfortunate men when the last intention of their lives is to be occupied with the feminine.
1990 J. Moat Firewater & Miraculous Mandarin 72 The masculine needs to know the feminine and her embodied knowledge.
b. A female person; a woman. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > woman > [noun]
wifeeOE
womaneOE
womanOE
queanOE
brideOE
viragoc1000
to wifeOE
burdc1225
ladyc1225
carlinec1375
stotc1386
marec1387
pigsneyc1390
fellowa1393
piecec1400
femalea1425
goddessa1450
fairc1450
womankindc1450
fellowessa1500
femininea1513
tega1529
sister?1532
minikinc1540
wyec1540
placket1547
pig's eye1553
hen?1555
ware1558
pussy?a1560
jade1560
feme1566
gentlewoman1567
mort1567
pinnacea1568
jug1569
rowen1575
tarleather1575
mumps1576
skirt1578
piga1586
rib?1590
puppy1592
smock1592
maness1594
sloy1596
Madonna1602
moll1604
periwinkle1604
Partlet1607
rib of man1609
womanship?1609
modicum1611
Gypsy1612
petticoata1616
runniona1616
birda1627
lucky1629
she-man1640
her1646
lost rib1647
uptails1671
cow1696
tittup1696
cummer17..
wife1702
she-woman1703
person1704
molly1706
fusby1707
goody1708
riding hood1718
birdie1720
faggot1722
piece of goods1727
woman body1771
she-male1776
biddy1785
bitch1785
covess1789
gin1790
pintail1792
buer1807
femme1814
bibi1816
Judy1819
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
wifie1823
craft1829
shickster?1834
heifer1835
mot1837
tit1837
Sitt1838
strap1842
hay-bag1851
bint1855
popsy1855
tart1864
woman's woman1868
to deliver the goods1870
chapess1871
Dona1874
girl1878
ladykind1878
mivvy1881
dudess1883
dudette1883
dudine1883
tid1888
totty1890
tootsy1895
floozy1899
dame1902
jane1906
Tom1906
frail1908
bit of stuff1909
quim1909
babe1911
broad1914
muff1914
manhole1916
number1919
rossie1922
bit1923
man's woman1928
scupper1935
split1935
rye mort1936
totsy1938
leg1939
skinny1941
Richard1950
potato1957
scow1960
wimmin1975
womyn1975
womxn1991
a1513 H. Bradshaw Lyfe St. Werburge (1521) i. xix. sig. g.iii Doctryne For aboue the age, of so yonge a femynyne.
1606 J. Day Ile of Guls sig. E2v Sweete Femenine, clip off the taile of thy discourse with the Sissars of attention.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xiii. 118 While all things are judg'd according to their suitableness..to..the fond Feminine.
1715 L. Theobald in tr. Aristophanes Clouds ii. i. 30 (note) I have made bold to shorten this Dialogue concerning Masculines and Feminines.
1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 202 The Deity..was represented as a feminine.
1796 Sporting Mag. Dec. 154/2 Carried into the parlour for the amusement of the Ladies and the no less curious feminines in the kitchen.
1871 Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 3 Oct. 630/1 Every ‘Mormon’ man certainly thinks the feminines of his own family about as handsome as feminine humanity is usually made.
1887 Graphic 15 Jan. 67/1 We are two lone feminines.
1906 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 3/7 Sufficient time has elapsed to prove the ill effects of cycling, especially for feminines and future offspring.
c. With the: that which is feminine; the feminine element in human nature.
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1665 J. Sparrow tr. J. Böhme 40 Questions of Soul (new ed.) viii. 178 The Seed in the Essence seeketh vehemently the Life: the Masculine in the Feminine in Venus, and the Feminine in the Fire, in the Original of the Life.
1839 Monthly Mag. Sept. 264 To the feminine [Goethe] ascribes all that conduces to the progression of the individual and the species.
1859 Herald of Light Nov. 14 The wife should obey the husband in all things that he may absorb her spirit, and become wise by the inflowing of the feminine through the masculine.
1917 F. Henkel Creative Physics vi. 65 All actual regeneration is performed by the feminine or psychic within us, which is not absent in the male but overdominated by the intellectual part.
1953 A. L. Rowse Diary 16 Dec. (2003) 168 ‘I don't mind what they do, either,’ said Lady Beveridge, with a woman's quick turn-round, revealing the feminine under such a strong masculine appearance.
1992 C. P. Estés Women who run with Wolves xiv. 424 We immerse ourselves in the mysteries of the feminine.
d. Also with capital initials. the eternal feminine [after German das Ewig-Weibliche (a1832 in Goethe's Faust)] the essential, idealized female nature; (hence) the ideal or typical woman; (more generally) womankind.
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the world > people > person > woman > [noun] > womanly qualities or characteristics
tendernessa1387
femininityc1405
feminityc1415
womanhoodc1430
womanc1440
womanliness1538
muliebrity?1592
woman1619
feminality1646
femality1702
femineity1741
feminacy1776
feminility1824
womanism1824
feminism1841
womanness1841
feminicity1843
womanity1843
femininitude1878
the eternal feminine1892
marianismo1972
1860 Herald of Light 1 Mar. 310 In Him the Eternal Masculine and the Eternal Feminine, otherwise the Divine Good and the Divine Truth, are one.
1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 16 June 3/1 The volumes..display the above-noted characteristics of the eternal feminine in its singing moods.
1912 W. J. Locke Aristide Pujol ix His quest being little Jean and not the eternal feminine.
1943 National Geographic Mag. Dec. 754/1 ‘Don't you go takin' my picture, Joe Clark’, she said. ‘My har ain't been combed this day.’ The eternal feminine!
2002 M. Dolar in S. Žižek & M. Dolar Opera's Second Death ii. ii. 169 In Tristan, the real woman also sustains the immersion into the eternal feminine, whereas in Parsifal, the eternal feminine is reached through the rejection of the real woman.
Compounds
C1.
feminine cadence n. Music a cadence in which the second chord is less strongly accented than the first; a feminine ending; cf. female cadence n. at female n. and adj. Compounds 2b.
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1854 A. N. Johnson Pract. Instr. Harmony xlv. 158 The Germans call the suspended cadence a ‘feminine cadence’.
1926 Times 6 Feb. 10/4 The feminine cadences, of which Mozart was especially fond, yielded their true quality and significance in Mrs. Woodhouse's hands.
2002 C. Rosen Beethoven's Piano Sonatas 190 A swell to fortissimo and a fall back to pianissimo close the movement with a feminine cadence.
feminine caesura Prosody a pause which follows an unstressed syllable, typically in the middle of a line.
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1828 C. B. Schade Compl. Pract. Gram. German Lang. (ed. 4) xv. 533 The second foot then has either a masculine or feminine caesura.
1920 PMLA 35 81 In many iambic pentameter verses the effect of the feminine caesura is weakened by the prevailing end-stopped lines.
2002 W. V. Clausen Virgil's Aeneid 39 The rhythm of Virgil's line—feminine caesura with diaeresis—is unique in the Aeneid.
feminine rhyme n. Prosody [after Middle French rithme feminine (c1570 in the passage translated in quot. 1578, or earlier); compare French rime féminine (1610 or earlier)] (in French prosody) a rhyme between syllables ending in a mute e (so called because the mute e is used as a feminine suffix); (hence more generally) a rhyme between stressed syllables followed by one or more unstressed syllables; (also as a mass noun) the use of such rhymes.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhyme > [noun] > feminine rhyme
feminine rhyme1578
female rhymea1586
1578 H. Wotton tr. J. Yver Courtlie Controuersie 267 A Table, and..an other, conteyning in feminine Rymes [two poems].
1603 S. Daniel Def. Ryme in Panegyrike sig. H6v This change of number in a Poem of one nature sits not so wel, as to mixe vncertainly, feminine Rymes with masculine.
1771 W. Hooper tr. J. F. von Bielfeld Elements Universal Erudition (new ed.) II. ii. vii. 196 When the last syllable in masculine rhymes, and the two or three last syllables in feminine rhymes, are exactly the same both to the eye and the ear, they are called rich rhymes.
1870 E. S. Creasy Hist. Eng. II. x. 544 The second and fourth lines are in Latin, and rhyme together in feminine rhyme.
1905 J. Marshall & O. J. Stevenson Select Poems 189 The words channel and panel..constitutes a feminine rhyme.
2007 Amer. Scholar Autumn 65 I drilled them on scansion and poetic feet, masculine and feminine rhyme.
C2.
feminine hygiene n. euphemistic (a) the maintenance and improvement of female sexual health or genital hygiene; (b) the use of sanitary protection during menstruation; frequently attributive, esp. in feminine hygiene product.
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1874 J. W. Howe Sex & Educ. i. 24 The feminine hygiene will be higher and more complete when it is administered by women.
1924 Vogue July 92/2 (advt.) Zonite is a colorless liquid that destroys odors and leaves no odor of its own... Authorities are urging its immediate adoption for feminine hygiene by all women.
1969 Life 7 Nov. 83/2 (advt.) Swedish women are world-famous for their advanced attitudes toward feminine hygiene... Over 90%..use a tampon of the Carefree design.
2006 J. Rubin et al. Great Physician's Rx for Women's Health v. 183 Let's..talk about going organic when it comes to using unbleached toilet paper and uh—feminine hygiene products.
feminine liberation n. the liberation of women from inferior social status and all forms of sexual discrimination; a movement with these aims; cf. fem lib n., women's liberation n.The phrase is particularly associated with the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s; before this period not as a fixed collocation.
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1883 F. Marryat Facing Footlights II. v. 147 He never..failed to make himself as perfectly at home as if he were the master of the house, and everything contained in it, which in these days of feminine liberation he decidedly was not.
1969 Racine (Wisconsin) Jrnl. Times 24 Oct. 4 b/5 In the year of the ‘natural African look’ for blacks and the Feminine Liberation movement to free women from ‘unnatural restraints,’ more American males are countering by joining the ‘Peacock Revolution’ and becoming sprayed, scented, and sold on personal toiletries.
1992 Courier Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 2 Apr. This year..is the 25th anniversary of the burning of the bra, that symbolic act of feminine liberation.
feminine wile n. a subtle or cunning method or trick employed by women to attract, influence, or manipulate men, typically involving the use of seductive behaviour, charm, or flattery (frequently in plural); also as a mass noun.
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1832 W. Davenport Adams in Literary Souvenir 9 His mistress..became alarmed at his desertion, and put in practice a thousand feminine wiles to lure him back to her chair.
1850 Peterson's Mag. July 15/2 The graceful unrest which left her no two minutes in the same position, seemed but a pretty feminine wile to exhibit the splendor of her dress.
1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 10 Feb. 7/2 Her whole performance during this scene was enchanting. It was the quintessence of feminine wile.
1900 F. B. Dowd Regeneration viii. 99 An innocent coquetry is one of the feminine wiles to arouse and keep active the masculine curiosity and longing.
1989 Guardian (Nexis) 3 Nov. Instead of admiring the manner in which feminine wile has brought a patriarchy to its senses, the audience is chiefly relieved that none of the..actors has caught an ankle on the several miles of microphone cable.
2001 S. W. Solovic Girls' Guide to Power & Success 84 Being a woman in the business world can have its advantages. Who hasn't occasionally used their feminine wiles to get in the door?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
femininev.
/ˈfɛmᵻnᵻn/, U.S. /ˈfɛmənən/ rare. Now U.S.
transitive. To make feminine in nature or character; to feminize.In quot. 1583 with negative connotations of weakness or inferiority.
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the world > life > sex and gender > female > effeminacy > [verb (transitive)]
effeminate1531
womanish1561
feminine1583
womanizea1586
hermaphroditize1598
unman1599
woman1611
smock1614
effeminizec1616
evirate1627
disman1628
lady1656
emolliate1802
1583 P. Stubbes Anat. Abuses sig. Oiv Musick..dooth rather femenine the minde.
1949 Chester (Pa.) Times 21 Sept. 12/5 (advt.) Man-tailored pyjamas, feminined with gleaming satin stripes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1390
v.1583