epicene
Plural: epicenes
Noun
- A person or word having both male and female characteristics.
- one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
- An epicene word; preceded by the: the epicene words of a language as a class.
- An epicene person, whether biologically asexual, androgynous, hermaphrodite, or intersex; an androgyne, a hermaphrodite.
- A transsexual; also, a transvestite.
- An effeminate man.
Adjective Satellite
- having an ambiguous sexual identity
- having unsuitable feminine qualities
Adj
- 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.).
- Of or relating to nouns or pronouns in any language that have a single form for male and female referents.
- Suitable for use regardless of sex; unisex.
- 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.
- Indeterminate; mixed.
- Of a man: effeminate.
Examples
- The word ’EPICENE’ can be tricky, much like trying to fit long words into a tight Scrabble grid.
Origin / Etymology
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)).
Synonyms
androgyne, bisexual, cissy, effeminate, emasculate, epicene person, gynandromorph, hermaphrodite, intersex, sissified, sissy, sissyish, common, gynandromorphic, gynandrous
Scrabble Score: 11
epicene: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordepicene: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
epicene: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary