epicene

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of or relating to a class of Greek and Latin nouns that may refer to males or females but have a fixed grammatical gender (feminine, masculine, neuter, etc.).

   “Q. How will you diſtinguiſh the Maſculine hic from the Epicene hic, and the Feminine hæc from the Epicene hæc? / A. That word that hath hic before it, and is onely male, is the Maſculine gender: but if it be both male and female, then it is the Epicene Gender: and ſo hæc before a female, is feminine, but hæc before a word that contains under it both ſexes, is Epicene.”

   “In many names of animals, the same word with the same gender is used for both sexes: ἡ ἁλὠπηξ the fox, male or female. These are said to be epicoene.”

   “Ovis, therefore, is epicene, and, moreover, a true epicene, like volpes, aquila, merula, avis, panthera, corvus, and others. It is epicene, because it has just been proved to be the generic term for sheep without thought for sex, to have only one grammatical gender, feminine, and yet, as a true epicene, to be carried to its logical development, so that on a few occasions, such as we have encountered in Ovid, and in [Marcus Terentius] Varro, it is employed strictly of the male.”

2. (not-comparable)Of or relating to nouns or pronouns in any language that have a single form for male and female referents.

   “In Telugu some confusion has been introduced between the epicene sign of plurality 'ar-u', and the neuter 'lu.' [...] Thus the Telugu demonstrative pronoun 'vâr-u,' they (the plural of 'vâḍu,' he), corresponding to the Canarese 'avar-u,' exhibits the regular epicene plural; while 'magaḍu,' a husband (in Tamil 'magan'), takes for its plural not 'magaru,' but 'magalu;' [...]”

3. (broadly, not-comparable)Suitable for use regardless of sex; unisex.

   “Boating when epicene is nice, in truth, / E'en though one must allow, / The danger of giving the helm to youth / While pleasure rules the prow. / [...] / 'Tis best when Frank takes his cousin ashore, / She loves botanising, / While Sissy who's left, can handle an oar / In a manner surprising.”

4. (figuratively, not-comparable)Of indeterminate sex, whether asexual, androgynous, hermaphrodite, or intersex; of a human face, intermediate in form between a man's face and a woman's face.

   “Five High School boys came down the road abreast. Ellis saw them coming, a row of yellow, malicious faces—epicene faces, horribly smooth and young, grinning at him with deliberate insolence.”

   “The 1960's may well be remembered as the epicene era. Boys grew long hair and bangs; girls adopted trousers, vests and peaked caps – and with everyone wearing tight pants and boots, your guess is as good as ours whether that was a guy or a gal who just went by!”

   “There is a kind of aesthetic masturbation here akin to Elmer's love of impregnable, virginal epicene women.”

   “‘The actor was male. He wasn’t one of Jim’s regulars. But the character I recognize in the door is epicene.’”

   “A few boys still playing ringolievio, haphazard and half speed, the clumsy fatboy trapped in the den, always caught, always it, the slightly epicene butterfat bulk, the boy who's always reaching down to lift a droopy sock and getting swift-kicked by the witlings and sadists. Is that what being it means? Neutered, sexless, impersonalized.”

5. (broadly, not-comparable)Indeterminate; mixed.
6. (broadly, derogatory, not-comparable, usually)Of a man: effeminate.

   “A lot of rather etiolated, epicene, middle-class, male intellectuals have discovered a new authenticity when they come to identify themselves as football fans.”

   “Here it is vital to turn up at least half an hour early, when you find a kitsch variety show, ostensibly staged by a Gibraltarian touring company, in full, ghastly progress. It is certainly nothing if not international: Austria is symbolised by lederhosen and dirndls; gay Paree by boaters and baguettes; and Scotland, somewhat libellously, by kilted, epicene figures singing "Donald, where's your troosers?"”

noun

1. An epicene word; preceded by the: the epicene words of a language as a class.

   “Which ſort of Words the Grammarians call Epicœnes (ἐπίκοινος from κοινός common), becauſe they under one Gender, which they commonly take from the Termination, comprehend both Kinds; [...] [Marcus Terentius] Varro, after the example of Ennius and [Quinus] Fabius Pictor, has uſed ſome of theſe Epicœnes in both Genders, e.g. uſing the maſculin lupus (a wolf) as feminin.”

   “Consequently, all animate objects which do not have distinctive terms for their male and female beings are epicenes and become masculine or feminine solely by virtue of the addition of gender marker particles denotative of 'male' and 'female' or 'he' and 'she' suffixed to the genderless term. This device of gender distinction, too, is confined to non-human animate beings only.”

   “Some French feminists argue that the neutralization of masculine forms into epicenes actually does a disservice to women, making women even less visible socially and professionally. However, it seems inappropriate for feminists in one linguistic community to comment on the strategies used in other linguistic communities.”

2. (figuratively)An epicene person, whether biologically asexual, androgynous, hermaphrodite, or intersex; an androgyne, a hermaphrodite.

   “Onely one Iſland they have, is call'd the Iſle of the Epecœnes, becauſe there under one Article both kindes are ſignified, for they are faſhioned alike, male and female the ſame, [...] you doe not know the delight of the Epicœnes in Moon-ſhine.”

3. (broadly)A transsexual; also, a transvestite.

   “Epicoene, or The ſilent VVoman. A comœdie. [title page]”

   “Of Transvestites and Other Epicenes [article title]”

4. (broadly, derogatory, usually)An effeminate man.

   “[W]hat ſhall be urged in defence of any male creature, who not only adopts every effeminate foible, but glories in them; and affects to deſpiſe and ridicule the rough unpoliſhed creature, who has ſenſe and ſpirit enough to perſiſt in the manly port of his forefathers? Should it be aſked by any villager, who had never been out of the hundred where he was born, (and none but ſuch aſk the queſtion,) if we really have ſuch Epicœnes amongſt us?”