Dictionary Definition
feminine adj
1 associated with women and not with men;
"feminine intuition" [ant: masculine]
3 befitting or characteristic of a woman
especially a mature woman; "womanly virtues of gentleness and
compassion" [syn: womanly] [ant: unwomanly]
4 (music or poetry) ending on an unaccented beat
or syllable; "a feminine ending" n : a gender that refers chiefly
(but not exclusively) to females or to objects classified as
female
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From feminin, from femininus, from femina woman; probably akin to Latin fetus, or to Greek to suck, to suckle, Sanskrit dhā to suck; compare Anglo-Saxon woman, maid: compare French féminin. See fetus.Pronunciation
- /ˈfɛmɪnɪn/ or /ˈfɛmənɪn/
Adjective
- Having the qualities associated with a woman or the female
gender; suitable to, or
characteristic of, a woman; nurturing; not masculine or aggressive.
- Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine —
Milton
- Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace — Macaulay
- Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogether feminine, and subject to ease and delicacy — Sir Walter Raleigh
- Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace — Macaulay
- Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine —
Milton
- Of the female sex; biologically female, not male, womanly.
- Belonging to females; appropriated to, or used by, females.
- Mary, Elizabeth, and Edith are feminine names.
- Grammatical gender distinction in languages that have it such as Spanish and Hindi that describes nouns including those pertaining to females and objects that are assigned the feminine gender.
Synonyms
- : caring, nurturing
- italbrac of the female sex: female, womanly
Derived terms
Translations
having the qualities associated with a woman
of the female sex
belonging to females
grammatical gender distinction
- ttbc Hebrew: נִקְבִּי (nikbí)
- ttbc Japanese: 女らしい (おんならしい, onnarashii)
- ttbc Latin: femininus
- ttbc Scottish Gaelic: banail, boireannach, màlda
- ttbc Swedish: feminin , feminint (1, 2, 3)
Adverb
- Of or pertaining to woman.
- Having the qualities of a woman.
Noun
- (Obsolete or Colloquial): A woman.
- They guide the feminines toward the palace — Hakluyt
- Any one of those words which are the appellations of females,
or which have the terminations usually found in such words; as,
actress, songstress, abbess, executrix.
- There are but few true feminines in English — Latham
Translations
woman
- German: Frau, Weib
(grammar)
- Finnish: feminiini
- West Frisian: froulik
- ttbc Chinese: 阴性 (yīnxìng) (2)
- ttbc Catalan: femení , femenina
- ttbc Danish: kvinde (1); hunkøn (2)
- ttbc Dutch: vrouwelijk
- ttbc French: féminin (2)
- ttbc Greek: θηλυκό (thilykó)
- ttbc Italian: femminile
- ttbc Japanese: 女性 (じょせい, josei)(1,2)
- ttbc Portuguese: feminino , feminina
- ttbc Russian: женский (žénskij)
- ttbc Scottish Gaelic: banail, boireann, màlda
- ttbc Spanish: femenino , femenina
Romanian
Adjective
feminineExtensive Definition
Feminine normally refers to qualities positively
associated with women or girls (see Femininity). A
near synonym is womanly; antonyms include unfeminine, unwomanly,
manish and epicene.
It can also refer to:
- Feminine grammatical gender, a class of words and forms normally including reference to women
- Feminine rhyme, where two or more syllables match, sometimes with unstressed final syllable
- Feminine cadence, a final chord falling in a metrically weak position
See also
- Feminine ending (disambiguation)
- Masculine (disambiguation)
feminine in French: Féminin
feminine in Portuguese: Feminino
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
affected, amenable, animate, common gender, deferential, delicate, distaff, docile, effeminate, effete, female, gender, gentle, gentlewomanlike,
girlish, gynecic, gynecoid, gynic, inanimate, kittenish, ladylike, little-girlish,
maidenly, masculine, matronal, matronlike, matronly, muliebral, neuter, petticoat, soft, submissive, tender, unmanly, womanish, womanlike, womanly