feminism

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a doctrine that advocates equal rights for women
  2. noun the movement aimed at equal rights for women

Etymology

From French féminisme circa 1837, ultimately from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”). In the original sense of “women's movement or advocacy”, the French word was probably directly derived from fēmina, as if from Neo-Latin feminismus. First recorded in English in 1851, originally meaning “the state of being feminine”. Sense of “advocacy of women's rights” is from 1895.

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