Epicene

For the play by Ben Jonson, see Epicœne, or The silent woman.

Epicene is an adjective (sometimes substantive) that indicates lack of gender distinction, often specifically loss of masculinity. It includes:

Specialized uses

In linguistics, the adjective epicene is used to describe a word that has only one form for both male and female referents. In some cases, the term common is also used, but should not be confused with common or appellative as a contrary to proper (as in proper noun). In English, for example, the epicene (or common) nouns cousin and violinist can refer to a man or a woman, and so can the epicene (or common) pronoun one. The noun stewardess and the third-person singular pronouns he and she on the other hand are not epicene (or common).[1]

In languages with grammatical gender, the term epicene can be used in two distinct situations:[1]

un enfant espiègle (masculine)    "a mischievous male child"
une enfant espiègle (feminine)    "a mischievous female child"
For this meaning the term "common" is also used.

See also

References

Look up epicene in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. 1 2 Dictionary.com: epicene (accessed on 10 August 2015)
  2. William W. Goodwin: A Greek Grammar. Revised and enlarged. Boston, published by Ginn & Company, 1895, p.35, §.158
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