Wordwyrt

femininity

/ˌfeməˈnɪnəti/feh-muh-NIH-nuh-tee
/ˌfɛməˈnɪnəti/feh-muh-NIH-nuh-tee

Meaningthe state or quality of being of women

Common meaning: the quality of being feminine

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dha-‘suck’source
  2. Latinfēmina, -ae‘a woman’
  3. Old Frenchfemininsource
  4. Englishfeminine‘of or like women’
  5. Englishformed in English from femininefemininity‘the quality of being feminine’ · today

Sources & notes

Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: the state or quality of being of women. It can be inferred from any of: feminine.

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: Formed in English from feminine + -ity (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).

Roots

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