androgyne

[an-druh-jahyn]

noun

1. an androgynous person, such as one whose appearance is neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine.

2. a person whose gender identity is linked to androgyny, such as by being a blend of male and female or by being neither male nor female.

3. 1. Older Use: Often Offensive.,  a person having reproductive characteristics of both sexes.

   2. a mythical early form of human in which the sexes had not been divided into two separate categories, and instead each person was both male and female at the same time.

4. Botany.,  a plant having staminate and pistillate flowers in the same inflorescence.

androgyne

/ ˈændrəˌdʒaɪn /

noun

1. another word for hermaphrodite

Word History and Origins

Origin of androgyne¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Middle French, from Latin androgynus, from Greek andrógynos “hermaphrodite,” equivalent to andro- + gyn- + -os, masculine noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of androgyne¹

C17: from Old French, via Latin from Greek androgunos, from anēr man + gunē woman

Example Sentences

Emerging from a cult of nonpersonality, where ordinary figures with unassuming names like Ian Brown ascended to British music royalty, Brett Anderson, Suede’s fey and foppish androgyne, reintroduced theatricality and glamour to the scene.

From Los Angeles Times

On platinum albums including “Antichrist Superstar” and “Mechanical Animals,” Manson cultivated a character — part Alice Cooper, part androgyne glam monster — that antagonized the religious right and enraptured teenagers.

From Los Angeles Times

In "The Garden of Eden," David Bourne often refers to Catherine — Hemingway's androgyne avatar — as "Devil."

From Salon

Younger designers seemed keen on re-clothing notions of women and men, with fluorescent expressions of gender fluidity and slinky knitwear for digital androgynes.

From The New Yorker

Rather than sounding like a boy, Cher’s voice in the 1960s suggests a coming era of the androgyne, with a whiff of all that multicultural, multiethnic and thrillingly exotic territory beyond race and gender.

From Washington Post