Etymology
From Middle English feminine, femynyne, femynyn, from Old French feminin, feminine, from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-eh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”). Related to fetus, feminism, filial, fellatio.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfɛmɪnɪn/, /ˈfɛmənɪn/
- Hyphenation: fem‧i‧nine
Adjective
feminine (comparative more feminine, superlative most feminine)
- Of or pertaining to the female gender; womanly.
- Of or pertaining to the female sex; biologically female, not male.
- Belonging to females; typically used by females.
Mary, Elizabeth, and Edith are feminine names.
- Having the qualities stereotypically associated with women: nurturing, not aggressive.
1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine.
1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):Ninias being esteemed no man of warre at all, but altogether feminine, and subject to ease and delicacy.
- (grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the female grammatical gender, in languages that have gender distinctions.
- Synonym: female
- Coordinate terms: masculine, neuter, common
- (of a noun) Being of the feminine class or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.
- (of another part of speech) Being inflected in agreement with a feminine noun.
- (grammar, Mongolic languages, of any word) Having the vowel harmony of a front vowel.
- Coordinate term: masculine
- (prosody) Following or ending on an unstressed syllable.
Translations
of the female sex
- Arabic: نِسَائِيّ (nisāʔiyy)
- Armenian: իգական (hy) (igakan)
- Belarusian: жано́чы (žanóčy), жано́цкі (žanócki)
- Bulgarian: же́нски (žénski)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 女性的 (zh)
- Czech: ženský (cs)
- Danish: kvindelig (da)
- Esperanto: ina (eo)
- Faroese: kvinnuligur
- Finnish: naispuolinen (fi), naaras-, naaraspuolinen (fi)
- French: féminin (fr)
- Galician: feminino (gl)
- Georgian: მდედრობითი (mdedrobiti), ქალური (kaluri)
- German: feminin (de), weiblich (de)
- Greek: θηλυκός (el) (thilykós)
- Ancient: θῆλυς (thêlus)
- Hindi: स्रैण (sraiṇ)
- Hungarian: női (hu), nőstény (hu), nőnemű (hu)
- Indonesian: feminin (id)
- Irish: baineann
- Italian: femminile (it)
- Japanese: 女らしい (おんならしい, onnarashii), 女性らしい (じょせいらしい, joseirashii), 女の (ja) (おんなの, onna no)
- Kazakh: әйелдік (äieldık)
- Korean: 여자답다 (yeojadapda), 녀자답다 (nyeojadapda) (North Korea)
- Latin: fēminīnus (la)
- Latvian: sievišķīgs, sievišķs, sieviešu (lv)
- Manx: bwoirrin
- Marathi: स्त्रैण (straiṇ)
- Middle Persian: [script needed] (m'tk')
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: feminin
- Nynorsk: feminin
- Odia: ସ୍ତ୍ରୈଣ (straiṇa)
- Pashto: ښځينه (ps) (ẍëźina)
- Polish: żeński (pl)
- Portuguese: feminino (pt)
- Punjabi:
- Gurmukhi: ਜ਼ਨਾਨਾ (zanānā)
- Shahmukhi: زَنانہ (zanānh)
- Russian: же́нский (ru) (žénskij)
- Slovak: ženský (sk)
- Southern Altai: тижи (tiži)
- Spanish: femenino (es)
- Swedish: kvinnlig (sv), feminin (sv)
- Tocharian B: klaiññe
- Turkish: dişil (tr)
- Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) (žinóčyj)
- Vietnamese: nữ giới (vi)
- Volapük: vomik (vo)
- West Frisian: froulik (fy)
- Zazaki: maki (diq), mayki (diq)
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belonging to females
- Armenian: կնոջ (knoǰ)
- Belarusian: жано́чы (žanóčy)
- Bulgarian: же́нски (žénski)
- Catalan: femení (ca), femenívol
- Cebuano: pangbabaye
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 女性的 (zh)
- Danish: kvinde- (da), feminin
- Finnish: naisten (fi)
- French: féminin (fr)
- Georgian: ქალური (kaluri)
- German: feminin (de), weiblich (de)
- Greek: γυναικείος (el) (gynaikeíos)
- Hungarian: női (hu)
- Indonesian: feminin (id)
- Italian: femminile (it)
- Japanese: 女性の (ja) (じょせいの, josei no)
- Korean: 여성의 (ko) (yeoseong-ui), 녀성의 (ko) (nyeoseong-ui) (North Korea)
- Latin: femininus (la)
- Latvian: sievišķīgs, sievišķs, sieviešu (lv)
- Macedonian: женски (ženski)
- Manx: bwoirrin
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: feminin
- Nynorsk: feminin
- Pashto: ښځينه (ps) (ẍëźina)
- Portuguese: feminino (pt)
- Russian: же́нский (ru) (žénskij)
- Slovak: ženský (sk), dievčenský
- Southern Altai: тижи (tiži)
- Spanish: femenil (es), de mujeres, femenino (es)
- Swedish: kvinnlig (sv), feminin (sv)
- Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) (žinóčyj)
- Volapük: vomik (vo)
- West Frisian: froulik (fy)
- Zazaki: maykek, nerimako
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having the qualities associated with women
- Albanian: femëror (sq)
- Armenian: կանացի (hy) (kanacʻi)
- Aromanian: feamin
- Belarusian: жано́чы (žanóčy), жано́цкі (žanócki)
- Bulgarian: же́нствен (bg) (žénstven), же́нски (žénski)
- Catalan: femenívol
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 女性的 (zh)
- Danish: kvindelig (da), feminin
- Esperanto: ina (eo)
- Finnish: naisellinen (fi), feminiininen (fi), naismainen (fi), napsu (fi)
- French: féminin (fr)
- Galician: feminino (gl)
- Georgian: ქალური (kaluri)
- German: feminin (de), weiblich (de)
- Greek: γυναικείος (el) (gynaikeíos)
- Hungarian: nőies (hu)
- Indonesian: feminin (id)
- Irish: baineann
- Middle Irish: banamail
- Italian: femminile (it)
- Japanese: 女性的な (ja) (じょせいてきな, joseiteki na), 女らしい (おんならしい, onnarashii), フェミニンな (ja) (feminin na)
- Korean: 나약하다 (ko) (nayakhada), 여자답다 (yeojadapda), 녀자답다 (nyeojadapda) (North Korea)
- Latin: fēminīnus (la), muliebris (la)
- Latvian: sievišķīgs, sievišķs, sieviešu (lv)
- Lithuanian: moteriškas (lt)
- Macedonian: женствен (ženstven), женски (ženski)
- Manx: benoil, bwoirrin
- Marathi: बायकी (bāykī)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: feminin
- Nynorsk: feminin
- Pashto: ښځينه (ps) (ẍëźina)
- Persian: زنانه (fa) (zanâna)
- Polish: kobiecy (pl)
- Portuguese: feminino (pt)
- Punjabi:
- Gurmukhi: ਜ਼ਨਾਨਾ (zanānā)
- Shahmukhi: زَنانہ (zanānh)
- Romanian: feminin (ro), femeiesc (ro)
- Russian: же́нский (ru) (žénskij), же́нственный (ru) (žénstvennyj), феминный (ru) (feminnyj)
- Scottish Gaelic: banail
- Slovak: ženský (sk)
- Southern Altai: тижи (tiži)
- Spanish: femenino (es)
- Swedish: kvinnlig (sv), feminin (sv)
- Turkish: feminen (tr), kadınsı (tr)
- Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) (žinóčyj), жіно́чний (žinóčnyj), жіно́цький (žinócʹkyj)
- Vietnamese: nữ tính (vi)
- Volapük: vomik (vo)
- West Frisian: froulik (fy)
- Zazaki: feminem
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of the feminine grammatical gender distinction
Translations to be checked
Noun
feminine (plural feminines)
- That which is feminine.
- (rare, possibly obsolete) A woman.
1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:They guide the feminines toward the Pallace.
- (grammar) The feminine gender.
- (grammar) A word of the feminine gender.
1860, Robert Gordon Latham FRS, An Elementary English Grammar: For the Use of Schools, →OCLC, page 82:These changes being understood, it is easy to see how inaccurate it is to talk of she being the feminine, and they being the plural, of he. The different words belong to different systems, and are no more the masculines and feminines of one another, than (to use a well-known illustration) puss is the vocative case of cat.
Translations
a word of the feminine gender
Translations to be checked