Adjacent Words

Epicene definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EP'ICENE, a. [Gr. common.] Common to both sexes; of both kinds.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having an ambiguous sexual identity [syn: bisexual, epicene]
2: having unsuitable feminine qualities [syn: effeminate, emasculate, epicene, cissy, sissified, sissyish, sissy] n
1: one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made [syn: hermaphrodite, intersex, gynandromorph, androgyne, epicene, epicene person]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin epicoenus, from Greek epikoinos, from epi- + koinos common — more at co- Date: 15th century 1. of a noun having but one form to indicate either sex 2. a. having characteristics typical of the other sex ; intersexual b. effeminate 3. lacking characteristics of either sex • epicene noun • epicenism noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 Gram. denoting either sex without change of gender. 2 of, for, or used by both sexes. 3 having characteristics of both sexes. 4 having no characteristics of either sex. 5 effete, effeminate. --n. an epicene person. Etymology: ME f. LL epicoenus f. Gk epikoinos (as EPI-, koinos common)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Epicene Ep"i*cene, a. & n. [L. epicoenus, Gr. ?; fr. 'epi` + ? common; cf. F. ['e]pic[`e]ne.] 1. Common to both sexes; -- a term applied, in grammar, to such nouns as have but one form of gender, either the masculine or feminine, to indicate animals of both sexes; as boy^s, bos, for the ox and cow; sometimes applied to eunuchs and hermaphrodites. 2. Fig.: Sexless; neither one thing nor the other. The literary prigs epicene. --Prof. Wilson. He represented an epicene species, neither churchman nor layman. --J. A. Symonds.