effeminate
/iˈfemɪnət/ee-FEH-mih-nuht
/iˈfɛmɪnət/ee-FEH-mih-nuht
Meaningmade womanish
Common meaning: (of a man) having traits thought of as feminine
- efout
- femina womanLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 734 · scan
- ateverb or adjective ending: to make, having
‘out’ + ‘a woman’ → effeminate
Journey through time
- Latineffeminatus‘made womanish’source
- Englisheffeminate‘(of a man) having traits thought of as feminine’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin fēmina ‘a woman’.
Roots
- fēmina, -ae Latin “a woman”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app