eunuch

American  

[yoo-nuhk] / ˈyu nək /

noun

1. a castrated man, especially one formerly employed by rulers in the Middle East and Asia as a harem guard or palace official.

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eunuch British  

/ ˈjuːnək /

noun

1. a man who has been castrated, esp (formerly) for some office such as a guard in a harem

2. informal an ineffective man

   a political eunuch

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Etymology

Origin of eunuch

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English eunuk, from Latin eunūchus, from Greek eunoûchos “eunuch, chamberlain,” equivalent to eune-, stem of eunḗ “bed, place of sleeping” + -ochos “keeping” (akin to échein “to have, hold, keep”; cf. hectic ( def. ))

Explanation

Not a word for the faint-hearted, eunuch sounds like "you nick," and if you castrate a man you make him a eunuch by...uh...nicking the testicles with a knife or scalpel and removing them. Eunuch comes from the Greek eunoukhos, meaning "bedroom guard." In history a eunuch was a man whose job was to guard the bedroom door of a royal woman to protect her. These guards were castrated to make them less threatening to the women they guarded. Later, some men underwent castration so their high voices wouldn't deepen during puberty, and these eunuch singers became famous in opera houses.

Example Sentences

In the 1990s, the feminist Germaine Greer, author of "The Female Eunuch," lambasted a fellow Australian writer, Christine Wallace, for daring to try to write a biography of Greer without her permission.

From Salon • Oct. 17, 2022

She added the only talk about "eunuchs" was a reference to Germaine Greer's feminist text The Female Eunuch.

From BBC • Dec. 10, 2021

Key texts such as Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch and the magazine Ms were published.

From The Guardian • Aug. 24, 2020

Reshama Prasad, a member of the state’s Eunuch Welfare Board, also praised the idea.

From The Guardian • Jul. 18, 2018

"To his face we call him Lord Eunuch," quipped Lit- tlefinger.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin