Word.ws English Dictionary

effœminate

effœminate is the obsolete spelling of effeminate.

Meaning of effeminate

Adjective

effeminate (comparative more effeminate, superlative most effeminate)

  1. (derogatory, often) Of a boy or man, exhibiting behavior or mannerisms considered typical of a woman or unmasculine.
    • An effeminate and unmanly foppery.1759, Richard Hurd, Moral and Political Dialogues
  2. (obsolete) Womanly; tender, affectionate, caring.
    • Gentle, kind, effeminate remorse.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

See all 5 meanings of effeminate

Forms of effœminate

Adjective
comparativemore effœminate
superlativemost effœminate
Verb
third-person singular presenteffœminates
present participleeffœminating
past participleeffœminated
pasteffœminated

Origin of effœminate

Compare Latin fœmina, medieval form of fēmina, whence effēminātus; medieval form: effœminātus.

Questions about effœminate

What is effœminate the obsolete spelling of?
Effœminate is the obsolete spelling of effeminate.

Words near effœminate in the dictionary

  1. effæminate
  2. effœminacie
  3. effœminacies
  4. effœminacy
  5. effœminat
  6. effœminate
  7. effœminated
  8. effœte
  9. efgartigimod
  10. EFI
  11. eficillin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: effœminate (page history and authors); effeminate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “effœminate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eff%C5%93minate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.