epicene

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
  2. adjective having an ambiguous sexual identity
  3. adjective having unsuitable feminine qualities

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)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

hermaphrodite, intersex, gynandromorph, androgyne, epicene person

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