feminine. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

feminine

SYLLABICATION:	fem·i·nine
PRONUNCIATION:	fm-nn
ADJECTIVE:	1. Of or relating to women or girls. See synonyms at female. 2. Characterized by or possessing qualities generally attributed to a woman. 3. Effeminate; womanish. 4. Grammar Designating or belonging to the gender of words or grammatical forms that refer chiefly to females or to things classified as female.
NOUN:	Grammar 1. The feminine gender. 2. A word or form belonging to the feminine gender.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fminnus, from fmina, woman. See dh(i)- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	femi·nine·ly —ADVERB femi·nine·ness —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.