adjective · rare

epicene

epi·cene

Of or relating to a class of Greek and Latin nouns that may refer to males or females…Of or relating to a class of Greek and Latin nouns that may refer to males or females but have a fixed grammatical gender (feminine, masculine, neuter, etc.).

UK/ˈɛp.ɪˌsiːn/US/ˈɛp.əˌsin/

» The word "single" is epicene.

Meaning

6 senses

(not comparable)Of or relating to a class of Greek and Latin nouns that may refer to males or females but have a fixed grammatical gender (feminine, masculine, neuter, etc.).
(not comparable)Of or relating to nouns or pronouns in any language that have a single form for male and female referents.
(broadly, not comparable)Suitable for use regardless of sex; unisex.
(figuratively, not comparable)Of indeterminate sex, whether asexual, androgynous, hermaphrodite, or intersex; of a human face, intermediate in form between a man's face and a woman's face.
(broadly, not comparable)Indeterminate; mixed.
(broadly, derogatory, not comparable, usually)Of a man: effeminate.

More definitions

having an ambiguous sexual identity
having unsuitable feminine qualities

Examples

1 sentences

The word "single" is epicene.
CC BY · Tatoeba · Adelpa · C2Open on Tatoeba Report a problem

Translations

4 languages

Origin

From Late Middle English epicene, epicen, epicin, epcyn, episcen, epycen, epycene, epycyn,

From Late Middle English epicene, epicen, epicin, epcyn, episcen, epycen, epycene, epycyn, ypsen (“(grammar) having only one form for masculine and feminine gender, common”), from Late Latin epicoenos, epicoenus (“of a noun: applicable to either males or females”), Latin epicoenon (“noun applicable to either males or females; grammatical gender of such nouns”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίκοινος (epíkoinos, “common to many people, things, etc.; promiscuous, sluttish”) (compare γένος ἐπίκοινον (génos epíkoinon, “common gender”)), from ἐπι- (epi-, prefix meaning ‘on, upon; on top of; all over’) + κοινός (koinós, “common; general, public”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by, near, with”) + *-yós (suffix forming adjectives from noun stems)).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source