effeminate

From Latin effēminātus, past participle of effēminō, from fēmina (“woman”).

• (adjective): IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɛmɪnət/
• (verb): IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɛmɪneɪt/

effeminate (comparative more effeminate, superlative most effeminate)

1. (often derogatory, of a man or boy) Exhibiting behaviour or mannerisms considered typical of a female; unmasculine.
   • Bishop Hurd

     An effeminate and unmanly foppery.

2. (obsolete) Womanly; tender, affectionate, caring.
   • Shakespeare

     Gentle, kind, effeminate remorse.

• camp, swish, epicene, effete, unmanly

• uneffeminate, noneffeminate, non-effeminate

effeminate (third-person singular simple present effeminates, present participle effeminating, simple past and past participle effeminated)

1. (transitive, archaic) To make womanly; to unman.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     , Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.134:

     the studie of sciences doth more weaken and effeminate mens minds, than corroborate and adapt them to warre.

   • John Locke

     It will not corrupt or effeminate children's minds.

2. (intransitive) To become womanly.

effeminate (plural effeminates)

1. An effeminate person.
   • 1976, Psychiatry (volumes 39-40, page 246)

     The effeminates are males with obviously recognizable traits and mannerisms; […]

• effeminacy

effeminate

1. feminine plural of effeminato

effēmināte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of effēminō

• effeminate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• effeminate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• effeminate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette