effeminate

[ih-fem-uh-nit, ih-fem-uh-neyt]

adjective

1. (of a man or boy) having traits, tastes, habits, etc., traditionally considered feminine, as softness or delicacy.

2. characterized by excessive softness, delicacy, self-indulgence, etc..

   effeminate luxury.

verb (used with or without object)

effeminated, effeminating 

1. to make or become effeminate.

effeminate

/ ɪˈfɛmɪnɪt /

adjective

1. (of a man or boy) displaying characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; not manly

2. lacking firmness or vigour

   an effeminate piece of writing

Other Word Forms

• effeminately adverb
• effeminateness noun
• effemination noun
• uneffeminate adjective
• uneffeminately adverb
• effeminacy noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of effeminate¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English effeminat, from Latin effēmināt-, past participle stem of effēmināre “to make feminine,” equivalent to ef- ef- + fēmin(a) “woman” + -āre infinitive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of effeminate¹

C14: from Latin effēmināre to make into a woman, from fēmina woman

Synonym Study

See female.

Example Sentences

When I was younger, bald men were often the butt of jokes - but taking steps to regain lost hair seemed to be viewed as effeminate and vain.

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As a “very, very effeminate boy” growing up in Baltimore, Ben Appel was teased mercilessly.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Men who buy this message that empathy is stupid, suicidal, and effeminate — which is supposedly the worst thing you can be — are going to struggle to make friends and maintain romantic relationships.

Read more on Salon

In fact, I think those gendered stereotypes — Americans as virile and manly; Europeans as emasculated or effeminate — go back much further than that, and were inhaled by nearly all American men of Trump’s generation.

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This is the message that Ridley Scott chose for his movie: Rome has been taken over by a foppish, effeminate class of men in perfumed silks.

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