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feminine . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
feminine , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
feminine in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
feminine you have here. The definition of the word
feminine will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
feminine , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
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 .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈfɛmɪnɪn/ , /ˈfɛmənɪn/
Hyphenation: fem‧i‧nine
Adjective
feminine (comparative more feminine , superlative most feminine )
Of or pertaining to the female gender ; womanly .
Of or pertaining to the female sex ; biologically female, not male.
Belonging to females; typically used by females.
Mary, Elizabeth, and Edith are feminine names.
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 ; nd by Robert Boulter ; 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 .
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.
( grammar ) Of, pertaining or belonging to the female grammatical gender , in languages that have gender distinctions.
Synonym: female
Coordinate terms: masculine , neuter , common
( of a noun ) Being of the feminine class or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.
( of another part of speech ) Being inflected in agreement with a feminine noun.
( grammar , Mongolic languages , of any word) Having the vowel harmony of a front vowel .
Coordinate term: masculine
( prosody ) Following or ending on an unstressed syllable.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
of the female sex
Arabic: نِسَائِيّ ( nisāʔiyy )
Armenian: իգական (hy) ( igakan )
Belarusian: жано́чы ( žanóčy ) , жано́цкі ( žanócki )
Bulgarian: же́нски ( žénski )
Czech: ženský (cs)
Danish: kvindelig (da)
Esperanto: ina (eo)
Faroese: kvinnuligur
Finnish: naispuolinen (fi) , naaras - , naaraspuolinen (fi)
French: féminin (fr)
Galician: feminino (gl)
Georgian: მდედრობითი ( mdedrobiti ) , ქალური ( kaluri )
German: feminin (de) , weiblich (de)
Greek: θηλυκός (el) ( thilykós )
Ancient: θῆλυς ( thêlus )
Hindi: स्रैण ( sraiṇ )
Hungarian: női (hu) , nőstény (hu) , nőnemű (hu)
Indonesian: feminin (id)
Irish: baineann
Italian: femminile (it)
Japanese: 女 らしい ( おんならしい, onnarashii ) , 女性 らしい ( じょせいらしい, joseirashii ) , 女の (ja) ( おんなの, onna no )
Kazakh: әйелдік ( äieldık )
Korean: 여자답다 ( yeojadapda ) , 녀자답다 ( nyeojadapda ) ( North Korea )
Latvian: sievišķīgs , sievišķs , sieviešu (lv)
Manx: bwoirrin
Marathi: स्त्रैण ( straiṇ )
Middle Persian: ( m'tk' )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: feminin
Nynorsk: feminin
Odia: ସ୍ତ୍ରୈଣ ( straiṇa )
Pashto: ښځينه (ps) ( ẍëźina )
Polish: żeński (pl)
Portuguese: feminino (pt)
Punjabi:
Gurmukhi: ਜ਼ਨਾਨਾ ( zanānā )
Shahmukhi: زَنانہ ( zanānh )
Russian: же́нский (ru) ( žénskij )
Slovak: ženský (sk)
Southern Altai: тижи ( tiži )
Spanish: femenino (es)
Swedish: kvinnlig (sv) , feminin (sv)
Tocharian B: klaiññe
Turkish: dişil (tr)
Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) ( žinóčyj )
Vietnamese: nữ giới (vi)
Volapük: vomik (vo)
West Frisian: froulik (fy)
Zazaki: maki (diq) , mayki (diq)
belonging to females
Armenian: կնոջ ( knoǰ )
Belarusian: жано́чы ( žanóčy )
Bulgarian: же́нски ( žénski )
Catalan: femení (ca) , femenívol
Cebuano: pangbabaye
Chinese:
Mandarin: 女性的 (zh)
Danish: kvinde- (da) , feminin
Finnish: naisten (fi)
French: féminin (fr)
Georgian: ქალური ( kaluri )
German: feminin (de) , weiblich (de)
Greek: γυναικείος (el) ( gynaikeíos )
Hungarian: női (hu)
Indonesian: feminin (id)
Italian: femminile (it)
Japanese: 女性の (ja) ( じょせいの, josei no )
Korean: 여성의 (ko) ( yeoseong-ui ) , 녀성의 (ko) ( nyeoseong-ui ) ( North Korea )
Latin: femininus (la)
Latvian: sievišķīgs , sievišķs , sieviešu (lv)
Macedonian: женски ( ženski )
Manx: bwoirrin
Norwegian:
Bokmål: feminin
Nynorsk: feminin
Pashto: ښځينه (ps) ( ẍëźina )
Portuguese: feminino (pt)
Russian: же́нский (ru) ( žénskij )
Slovak: ženský (sk) , dievčenský
Southern Altai: тижи ( tiži )
Spanish: femenil (es) , de mujeres , femenino (es)
Swedish: kvinnlig (sv) , feminin (sv)
Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) ( žinóčyj )
Volapük: vomik (vo)
West Frisian: froulik (fy)
Zazaki: maykek , nerimako
having the qualities associated with women
Albanian: femëror (sq)
Armenian: կանացի (hy) ( kanacʻi )
Aromanian: feamin
Belarusian: жано́чы ( žanóčy ) , жано́цкі ( žanócki )
Bulgarian: же́нствен (bg) ( žénstven ) , же́нски ( žénski )
Catalan: femenívol
Danish: kvindelig (da) , feminin
Esperanto: ina (eo)
Finnish: naisellinen (fi) , feminiininen (fi) , naismainen (fi) , napsu (fi)
French: féminin (fr)
Galician: feminino (gl)
Georgian: ქალური ( kaluri )
German: feminin (de) , weiblich (de)
Greek: γυναικείος (el) ( gynaikeíos )
Hungarian: nőies (hu)
Indonesian: feminin (id)
Irish: baineann
Middle Irish: banamail
Italian: femminile (it)
Japanese: 女性的な (ja) ( じょせいてきな, joseiteki na ) , 女 らしい ( おんならしい, onnarashii ) , フェミニンな (ja) ( feminin na )
Korean: 나약하다 (ko) ( nayakhada ) , 여자답다 ( yeojadapda ) , 녀자답다 ( nyeojadapda ) ( North Korea )
Latin: fēminīnus (la) , muliebris (la)
Latvian: sievišķīgs , sievišķs , sieviešu (lv)
Lithuanian: moteriškas (lt)
Macedonian: женствен ( ženstven ) , женски ( ženski )
Manx: benoil , bwoirrin
Marathi: बायकी ( bāykī )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: feminin
Nynorsk: feminin
Pashto: ښځينه (ps) ( ẍëźina )
Persian: زنانه (fa) ( zanâna )
Polish: kobiecy (pl)
Portuguese: feminino (pt)
Punjabi:
Gurmukhi: ਜ਼ਨਾਨਾ ( zanānā )
Shahmukhi: زَنانہ ( zanānh )
Romanian: feminin (ro) , femeiesc (ro)
Russian: же́нский (ru) ( žénskij ) , же́нственный (ru) ( žénstvennyj ) , феминный (ru) ( feminnyj )
Scottish Gaelic: banail
Slovak: ženský (sk)
Southern Altai: тижи ( tiži )
Spanish: femenino (es)
Swedish: kvinnlig (sv) , feminin (sv)
Turkish: feminen (tr) , kadınsı (tr)
Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) ( žinóčyj ) , жіно́чний ( žinóčnyj ) , жіно́цький ( žinócʹkyj )
Vietnamese: nữ tính (vi)
Volapük: vomik (vo)
West Frisian: froulik (fy)
Zazaki: feminem
of the feminine grammatical gender distinction
Translations to be checked
Noun
feminine (plural feminines )
That which is feminine.
( 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.
( grammar ) The feminine gender.
( grammar ) A word of the feminine gender.
1860 , Robert Gordon Latham FRS , An Elementary English Grammar: For the Use of Schools , →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 .
Translations
a word of the feminine gender
Translations to be checked
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
feminine
inflection of feminin :
strong / mixed nominative / accusative feminine singular
strong nominative / accusative plural
weak nominative all-gender singular
weak accusative feminine / neuter singular
Italian
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /fe.miˈni.ne/
Rhymes: -ine
Hyphenation: fe‧mi‧nì‧ne
Adjective
feminine
feminine plural of feminino
Latin
Etymology 1
From fēminīnus ( “ feminine ” ) + -ē .
Pronunciation
Adverb
fēminīnē (comparative fēminīnius , superlative fēminīnissimē )
femininely , womanly
Etymology 2
Inflected form of fēminīnus ( “ feminine ” ) .
Pronunciation
Adjective
fēminīne
vocative masculine singular of fēminīnus
References
“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.
Middle English
Adjective
feminine
Alternative form of femynyne
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
feminine
definite singular of feminin
plural of feminin
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
feminine
definite singular of feminin
plural of feminin
Romanian
Pronunciation
Adjective
feminine
feminine / neuter plural nominative / accusative of feminin
Swedish
Adjective
feminine
definite natural masculine singular of feminin