epicene
/ˈɛpɪsiːn
/adjective
1Having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex; of indeterminate sex: the sort of epicene beauty peculiar to boys of a certain age...
- He had an epicene beauty and his iconic character was the ‘thing in itself,’ comedy and pathos in the same figure.
- He was also a eunuch of such beauty that the sultan fell for his epicene handsomeness and appointed him his senior commander.
- For someone who has spent much of his life perfecting an image of epicene other-worldliness, he now bears startlingly normal hallmarks of a bloke you'd enjoy talking to down the pub.
Synonyms
sexless, asexual, neuter, unsexed;
androgynous, hermaphrodite, androgyne
technical monoclinous, gynandrous, gynandromorphic, parthenogenetic
1.1Effeminate; effete: the actor infused the role with an epicene languor...
- In this movie though, it's formed out of an epicene husband and a working-class orphan who have cemented their bonds in her absence, in a tent on an overnighter in the dark forest, to the tune of hooting owls.
- Among my favorites are the triumphant warrior Fortinbras represented by a pair of barefoot drips in angel costume, he blond and epicene, she a redheaded virago.
- Their gestures, facial expressions, and vocal intonations render them stereotypically gay or epicene.
Synonyms
effeminate, womanish, unmanly, unmasculine, girlish;
effete, weak, namby-pamby
informal sissy, girly, camp, limp-wristed, nancy, pansified, queeny
Origin
Late Middle English (as a grammatical term): via late Latin from Greek epikoinos (based on koinos 'common').