adjective
- belonging to, or partaking of the characteristics of, both sexes: Fashions in clothing are becoming increasingly epicene.
- flaccid; feeble; weak: an epicene style of writing.
- effeminate; unmasculine.
- (of Greek and Latin nouns) of the same gender class regardless of the sex of the being referred to, as Latin vulpēs “fox or vixen” is always grammatically feminine.
- Grammar. (of a noun or pronoun) capable of referring to either sex, as attendant, chairperson, Kim, one, or they; having common gender.
noun
- a person or thing that is epicene.
adjective
- having the characteristics of both sexes; hermaphroditic
- of neither sex; sexless
- effeminate
- grammar
- denoting a noun that may refer to a male or a female, such as teacher as opposed to businessman or shepherd
- (in Latin, Greek, etc) denoting a noun that retains the same grammatical gender regardless of the sex of the referent
noun
- an epicene person or creature
- an epicene noun
mid-15c., epycen, originally a grammatical term for nouns that may denote either gender, from Latin epicoenus “common,” from Greek epikoinos “common to many, promiscuous,” from epi “on” (see epi-) + koinos “common” (see coeno-). Extended sense of “characteristic of both sexes” first recorded in English c.1600; that of “effeminate” 1630s.