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effeminate - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English effeminat, effemynat, from Latin effēminātus, past participle of effēminō, from fēmina (“woman”).

  • (adjective): IPA(key): /ɪˈfɛmɪnət/
  • (verb): IPA(key): /ɪˈfɛmɪneɪt/

effeminate (comparative more effeminate, superlative most effeminate)

  1. (often derogatory, of a man or boy) Exhibiting behaviour or mannerisms considered typical of a female; unmasculine.
  2. (obsolete) Womanly; tender, affectionate, caring.

of a man, behaving like a woman

effeminate (third-person singular simple present effeminates, present participle effeminating, simple past and past participle effeminated)

  1. (transitive, archaic or nonstandard) To make womanly; to unman.
    • , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.134:
      the studie of sciences doth more weaken and effeminate mens minds, than corroborate and adapt them to warre.

    • 2003 April 13, AlannahLouis, “Thoughts on #308 - THREE GAYS OF THE CONDO”, in alt.tv.simpsons‎[1] (Usenet):

      I mean the represenstation of gay men on The Simpsons is getting more one-dimensional. For several years Smithers was quite masculine, yet the writers have effeminated him gradually (collecting Barbies, for instance), now he's rollerblading down the street with rainbow hotpants on?

  2. (intransitive) To become womanly.

effeminate (plural effeminates)

  1. An effeminate person.

    • 1976, Psychiatry, volumes 39-40, page 246:

      The effeminates are males with obviously recognizable traits and mannerisms; […]

effeminate

  1. feminine plural of effeminato

effēmināte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of effēminō
  • “effeminate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “effeminate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • effeminate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.