androgynous

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin androgynus (“man-woman, hermaphrodite”), from Ancient Greek ἀνδρόγῠνος (andrógunos), from ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”) +‎ γῠνή (gunḗ, “woman”) +‎ -ος (-os, “-ous”, adjectival suffix).

Pronunciation

Adjective

androgynous (comparative more androgynous, superlative most androgynous)

  1. Possessing the sex organs of both sexes.
  2. Pertaining to a feature or characteristic that is not definitively of either sex.
    Nicknames like Pat, Sam, and Chris are androgynous, used by both men and women.
    • 1982, Slava Tsukerman, Anne Carlisle, Nina V. Kerova, Liquid Sky, spoken by Margaret (Anne Carlisle):
      And I was taught that to be an actress, one should be fashionable, and to be fashionable is to be androgynous. And I am androgynous not less than David Bowie himself.
    • 1993, Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower, HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (2019), page 199:
      My name is androgynous, in pronunciation at least – Lauren sounds like the more masculine Loren.
  3. Possessing qualities of both sexes.
    • 1835, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (d. 1834), Specimens of the Table Talk
      The truth is, a great mind must be androgynous.
  4. (of a connector or docking port) Able to connect to another connector or port of the same type, rather than being restricted to connecting to solely male or solely female connectors or ports.
    APAS is an androgynous docking system, so – in principle, at least – any APAS-equipped vehicle should be able to hook up with any other, without having to worry about matching male with female ports.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

having sex organs of both genders — see hermaphroditic
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See also

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia