womyn

American  

[woom-uhn] / ˈwʊm ən /

noun

plural

wimyn, womyn

1. a woman (used chiefly in feminist writing as an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n andm-e-n ).

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Usage

What does womyn mean? Womyn is an alternative way of spelling women, used by some feminists to avoid the perceived sexism in the suffix -men.

Etymology

Origin of womyn

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

"She is a linguist and was writing her own puzzles that she deemed lesbian-separatist crossword puzzles filled with words like herstory and womyn spelt with a y. She could not get her puzzles published in the New York Times, and so she self-published a collection of puzzles that I really love."

From BBC

A prominent women’s festival where Dobkin played for years, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, excluded transwomen from attending.

From Seattle Times

The attempt to make the word women gender-neutral and inclusive have sparked subsequent debates about alternate spellings like womyn and other terms like folx or Latinx.

From Fox News

The professor of criminology at UNCW, and author of "Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts 'Womyn' on Campus," was scheduled to retire Aug. 1 after 27 years at the school, chancellor Jose Sartarelli said in a statement.

From Fox News

Like the women’s clubs, consciousness-raising groups, feminist bookstores and lesbian separatist womyn’s lands that came before it, the Wing’s organizing structure gestures at radical potential.

From New York Times