eunuch

From Middle English eunuk, from Middle French eunuque, from Latin eunūchus, from Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos), from εὐνή (eunḗ, “bed”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “I have, keep”). Originally probably used to refer to a bed chamber attendant.

• enPR: yo͞oʹnək, IPA^(key): /ˈjuː.nək/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: eu‧nuch

eunuch (plural eunuchs)

1. A castrated human male.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎^[1]:

     Semiramis was the first woman to invent eunuchs and women have had sympathy for them ever since; […] and women can tell them what they can't tell other men.

2. Such a man employed as harem guard or in certain (mainly Eastern) monarchies (e.g. late Roman and Chinese Empires) as court or state officials.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch,
     And in my Sarell tend my Concubines

   • 1849, Austen Henry Layard, chapter III, in Nineveh and Its Remains: with an account of a visit to the Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan:

     [describing a bas-relief] An eunuch holds a fly-flapper or fan over the head of the king, who appears to be conversing or performing some ceremony with a figure standing in front of him; probably his vizir or minister.

3. (in translations of ancient texts) A man who is not inclined to marry and procreate.
4. (figurative) One that is ineffectual.
   • 1976 December 11, Ronnie Allen, “No Political Eunuch”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 4:

     Mr. Peterson really reaches for a low one when he says, "They (gays) should never commit themselves to any broader ideological movement." I am, paradoxically, a Christian, a Maxist, a Gay, and a Human Being. To be gay one should not be a political eunuch.

While the most common form is a eunuch, the form an eunuch (presumably with an appropriate pronunciation) is occasionally seen.

• gelding

eunuch (third-person singular simple present eunuchs, present participle eunuching, simple past and past participle eunuched)

1. To castrate
2. (figurative) To render ineffectual.

• castrate
• castratism
• castrato
• desex, de-sex
• gelding
• neuter
• sterilize

Learned borrowing from Latin eunūchus, from Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos).

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛu̯nux]
• Hyphenation: eu‧nuch

eunuch m anim (relational adjective eunušský)

1. eunuch (castrated man)

   Synonyms: kleštěnec, kastrát

• “eunuch”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “eunuch”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “eunuch”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

• eunuuk (dated, superseded)

Borrowed from Latin eunūchus, from Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos).

• IPA^(key): /œy̯ˈnʏx/, /œy̯ˈnyx/, /øː-/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: eu‧nuch
• Rhymes: -ʏx

eunuch m (plural eunuchen, diminutive eunuchje n)

1. a eunuch (castrated man)
2. a eunuch (castrated male harem guard)

• Afrikaans: eunug

From German Eunuch, from Latin eunuchus, from Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos, “castrated man, eunuch, harem guard”), from εὐνή (eunḗ, “bed”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “I have, keep”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛunuxː]
• Hyphenation: eu‧nuch
• Rhymes: -uxː, -ux

eunuch (plural eunuchok)

1. eunuch (a castrated human male)
2. eunuch (a harem guard)

• eunuch in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• eunuch in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).

Learned borrowing from Latin eunūchus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛw.nux/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛwnux
• Syllabification: eu‧nuch

eunuch m pers

1. castrato, eunuch (castrated human male)

   Synonyms: kastrat, rzezaniec, trzebieniec

2. (historical) eunuch (such a man who was harem guard or in Middle Eastern courts under Roman Emperors, important officials of the state)
3. (derogatory) impotent (person incapable of taking a particular type of action that the situation requires)

   Synonym: impotent

• eunuch in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• eunuch in Polish dictionaries at PWN