[syn: effeminate, emasculate, epicene, cissy, sissified, sissyish, sissy]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Epicene \Ep"i*cene\, a. & n. [L. epicoenus, Gr. ?; fr. 'epi` + ?
common; cf. F. ['e]pic[`e]ne.]
1. Common to both sexes; -- a term applied, in grammar, to
such nouns as have but one form of gender, either the
masculine or feminine, to indicate animals of both sexes;
as boy^s, bos, for the ox and cow; sometimes applied to
eunuchs and hermaphrodites.
[1913 Webster]
2. Fig.: Sexless; neither one thing nor the other.
[1913 Webster]
The literary prigs epicene. --Prof.
Wilson.
[1913 Webster]
He represented an epicene species, neither churchman
nor layman. --J. A.
Symonds.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
epicene
adj 1: having an ambiguous sexual identity [syn: bisexual,
epicene]
2: having unsuitable feminine qualities [syn: effeminate,
emasculate, epicene, cissy, sissified, sissyish,
sissy]
n 1: one having both male and female sexual characteristics and
organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or
female cannot be made [syn: hermaphrodite, intersex,
gynandromorph, androgyne, epicene, epicene person]