epicene UK /ˈɛp.ɪˌsiːn/US /ˈɛp.əˌsin/adjective 6noun 4forms 1 adjective6 •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. — 1934 •(offensive) 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. — 1994 •Indeterminate; mixed. •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.).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. — 1862 •Of or relating to nouns or pronouns in any language that have a single form for male and female referents. •Suitable for use regardless of sex; unisex. noun4 •An epicene person, whether biologically asexual, androgynous, hermaphrodite, or intersex; an androgyne, a hermaphrodite. •A transsexual; also, a transvestite. •(offensive) An effeminate man. •An epicene word; preceded by the: the epicene words of a language as a class. formsepicenes
