feminine

• f., f (abbreviation, grammar)
• fœminine (hypercorrect, obsolete)

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛmɪnɪn/, /ˈfɛmənɪn/

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• Hyphenation: fem‧i‧nine

feminine (comparative more feminine, superlative most feminine)

1. Of or pertaining to the female gender; womanly.
2. Of or pertaining to the female sex; biologically female, not male.
3. Belonging to females; typically used by females.

   Mary, Elizabeth, and Edith are feminine names.

4. 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.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace.

   • 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.

5. (grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the female grammatical gender, in languages that have gender distinctions.

   Synonym: female

   Coordinate terms: masculine, neuter, common

   1. (of a noun) Being of the feminine class or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.
   2. (of another part of speech) Being inflected in agreement with a feminine noun.
      • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii:

        Women's names were formed in the same way as men's, but with feminine terminations […]

6. (grammar, Mongolic languages, of any word) Having the vowel harmony of a front vowel.

   Coordinate term: masculine

7. (prosody) Following or ending on an unstressed syllable.

   Feminine caesura, feminine catalexis, feminine ending, feminine rhyme.

• (of the female sex): female, womanly
• (having qualities stereotypical of the female gender): caring, ladylike, nurturing

• (of the female sex): male, manly
• (having qualities stereotypical of the female gender): butch, masculine
• (grammar): masculine, neuter

feminine (plural feminines)

1. That which is feminine.
2. (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.

4. (grammar) The feminine gender.
5. (grammar) A word of the feminine gender.
   • 1860, Robert Gordon Latham FRS, An Elementary English Grammar: For the Use of Schools‎^[1], →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.

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feminine

1. inflection of feminin:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

• IPA^(key): /fe.miˈni.ne/
• Rhymes: -ine
• Hyphenation: fe‧mi‧nì‧ne

feminine

1. feminine plural of feminino

From fēminīnus (“feminine”) +‎ -ē.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [feː.mɪˈniː.neː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [fe.miˈniː.ne]

fēminīnē (comparative fēminīnius, superlative fēminīnissimē)

1. femininely, womanly

Inflected form of fēminīnus (“feminine”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [feː.mɪˈniː.nɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [fe.miˈniː.ne]

fēminīne

1. vocative masculine singular of fēminīnus

• “feminine”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• feminine in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

feminine

1. alternative form of femynyne

feminine

1. definite singular of feminin
2. plural of feminin

feminine

1. definite singular of feminin
2. plural of feminin

• IPA^(key): /femiˈnine/

feminine

1. feminine/neuter plural nominative/accusative of feminin

feminine

1. definite natural masculine singular of feminin