noun · femininefirst declension
fēmina
fēmina f (genitive fēminae)
Classical[ˈfeː.mɪ.na]Ecclesiastical[ˈfɛː.mi.na]
№ 501 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- woman
conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae, corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari
Those came together that either felt ruthless hate or bitter fear for their tyrant. They seized ships that had incidentally already been arranged and loaded them with gold. The treasures of avaricious Pygmalion were carried to the sea; the leader of the action was a woman.29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.361–364[…]; quamquam de gloria vix dicere ausim, si nos et hostes haud secus quam feminas abditos intra vallum omnibus contumeliis eludunt, et […]
[…] ; though I had as lief not to speak of glory, when the enemy jeers us with much abuse as if women concealing behind walls, and […]27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita 7.13 - wife
- femininefemale
Prius quam messim facies, porcam praecidaneam hoc modo fieri oportet. Cereri porca praecidanea porco femina, prius quam hasce fruges condantur: far, triticum, hordeum, fabam, semen rapicium. thure, vino Iano Iovi Iunoni praefato, prius quam porcum feminam immolabis.
Before you carry out the harvest, it is proper to offer the porca praecidanea in this manner. Offer to Ceres a female pig as porca praecidanea before these crops are stored: emmer, wheat, barley, beans, and rapeseed. With incense and wine, offer a prayer to Janus, Jupiter, and Juno before you sacrifice the female pig.234 BCE – 149 BCE, Marcus Porcius Cato, De agri cultura 134.1Nam primum aliae (bestiae) mares, aliae feminae sunt, quod perpetuitatis causa machinata natura est, deinde partes corporis et ad procreandum et ad concipiendum aptissimae, et in mari et in femina commiscendorum corporum mirae libidines; [...]
To begin with, some of them (animals) are of gender males, others females, the which is for nature's perpetuity wrought, whence of each their parts in procreation and conceiving be optimal, and so the wanton desires in male and female towards sexual union of their own body; …45 BCE, Cicero, De natura deorum 2.128 - the feminine gender
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
contrārium virī; puella, virgō, mātrōna, anus fēminae sunt.fēmina -ae f — in Mille Verba, ch. Vīta et Mors
woman
fēmina -ae — in Viri Romae Facillimi, ch. 21
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Femina · Mulier · Uxor · Conjux · Marita
1. Femina (φυομένη) denotes woman with regard to her physical nature and sex, as bringing forth, in opp. to mas; whereas mulier (from mollis), woman, in a physical point of view, as the weaker and more tender sex, in opp. to vir; whence femina only can be used for the female of an animal. 2. Mulier denotes also the married woman, in opp. to virgo, Cic. Verr. ii. 1; whereas uxor and conjux, the wife, in opp. to the husband; uxor, merely in relation to the man who has married her, in opp. to maritus, Tac. G. 18; conjux (from conjungere), in mutual relation to the husband, as half of a pair, and in opp. to liberi, Cic. Att. viii. 2. Catil. iii. 1. Liv. v. 39, 40. Tac. Ann. iv. 62. H. iii. 18. 67. Suet. Cal. 17. Accordingly, uxor belongs to the man; conjux is on a par with the man; uxor refers to an every-day marriage, like wife; conjux, to a marriage between people of rank, like consort. Vell. Pat. ii. 100. Claudius, Gracchus, Scipio, quasi cujuslibet uxore violata pœnas perpendere, quum Cæsaris filiam et Nerones violassent conjugem. 3. Uxor is the ordinary, marita a poetical, expression for a wife. (iv. 327.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | fēmina | fēminae foeminae |
| genitive | fēminae foeminae | fēminārum foeminārum |
| dative | fēminae foeminae | fēminīs fēminābus, foeminīs |
| accusative | fēminam foeminam | fēminās foeminās |
| ablative | fēminā | fēminīs fēminābus, foeminīs |
| vocative | fēmina | fēminae foeminae |
fēmĭna, ae, f. from fe-, fev-, = Gr. φύ-ω, to produce; whence: fetus, fecundus, faenus, felix; cf. Sanscr. bhuas, bhavas, to become; Lat. fi-o, fu-turus,
I. a female.
I. Lit.
A. Of human beings, a female, woman (cf.: uxor, mulier, matrona;
conjux, marita): ut a prima congressione maris et feminae ... ordiar, Cic. Rep. 1, 24: et mares deos et feminas esse dicitis, id. N. D. 1, 34, 95: ambiguus fuerit modo vir, modo femina Sithon, Ov. M. 4, 280; cf. Lucr. 4, 819: in claris viris et feminis, Cic. Tusc. 1, 12, 27: pulchritudine eximiā femina, id. Div. 1, 25, 52: feminae notitiam habere, Caes. B. G. 6, 21 fin.: naturam feminarum omnem castitatem pati, Cic. Leg. 2, 12, 29; cf. id. Rep. 3, 10 fin.: bona, id. Phil. 3, 6, 16; cf.: praestantissima omnium feminarum, id. Fam. 5, 8, 2: sanctissima atque optima, id. Phil. 3, 6, 16: probatissima, id. Caecin. 4, 10: primaria, id. Fam. 5, 11, 2: decreta super jugandis feminis, Hor. C. S. 19: varium et mutabile semper femina, Verg. A. 4, 570: tunc femina simplex, the female character undisguised, Juv. 6, 327.—Adj.: inter quas Danai femina turba senis, Prop. 2, 31 (3, 29), 4.—Applied as a term of reproach to effeminate men, Ov. M. 12, 470; Sil. 2, 361; Suet. Caes. 22; Just. 1, 3; Curt. 3, 10 fin. al.—B. Of beasts, a female, she:
(bestiarum) aliae mares, aliae feminae sunt, Cic. N. D. 2, 51, 128: lupus femina feta repente, Enn. ap. Serv. Verg. A. 2, 355, and ap. Non. 378, 18 (Ann. v. 70 and 73 ed. Vahl.); cf.: habendas triduum ferias et porco femina piaculum pati (shortly before, porca), Cic. Leg. 2, 22, 57: sus, Col. 7, 9, 3: anas, Plin. 29, 5, 33, § 104: anguis, Cic. Div. 1, 18, 36; 2, 29, 62: piscis, Ov. A. A. 2, 482; Plin. 9, 50, 74, § 157; Ov. M. 2, 701.—II. Transf., in the lang. of nat. hist., of plants and minerals:
mas in palmite floret, femina citra florem germinat tantum spicae modo, Plin. 13, 4, 7, § 31; ib. § 34; so of other plants, id. 16, 33, 60, § 139; 16, 34, 62, § 145: 21, 10, 32, § 58 et saep.: in omni genere (carbunculorum) masculi appellantur acriores, et feminae languidius refulgentes, Plin. 37, 7, 25, § 92; of the loadstone, id. 36, 16, 25, § 128.—In mechanics, cardo femina, different from cardo masculus (v. cardo, 2), Vitr. 9, 9 med.—III. In gram., the feminine gender, Quint. 1, 6, 12; 1, 4, 24.
Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
fēmina ae, f
FE-, a female, woman : primaria, lady , T.: pudicissima: decreta super iugandis Feminis, H.: varium et mutabile semper Femina, V.: feminā duce exurere coloniam, Ta.: tu mihi femina semper, i. e. unmanly , O.: reparata est femina, the female sex , O.—Of beasts: aliae mares, aliae feminae sunt: dabitur femina tauro, O.: femina anguis.
Origins
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-der. Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ Proto-Italic *θēmanā Proto-Italic *fēmanā Latin fēmina From Proto-Italic *fēmanā, from earlier *θēmanā, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ (“[the one] nursing, breastfeeding”), the feminine mediopassive participle of *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck, suckle”). Related to fellō, fētus, fīlius. Displaced Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”).
Southern Gallo-Romance
- Catalanfembra
- Occitanfemnafrom Old Occitan femna
- Occitanhemnafrom Old Occitan femna
- Occitanfremafrom Old Occitan femna
Ibero-Romance
- Portuguesefêmeofrom Old Galician-Portuguese femea
- Portuguesefêmeafrom Old Galician-Portuguese femea
- Spanishhembrafrom Old Spanish femna
- Englishhembrafrom Old Spanish femna
- Asturianfema
- Mirandesefrema
- Galicianfemiafrom Old Galician-Portuguese femea
- Galicianfemafrom Old Galician-Portuguese femea
- Galicianfémeafrom Old Galician-Portuguese femea
Borrowings
- Englishfemina
- Spanishfémina
- Idofemino
Balkan Romance
- Romanianfamen
- Aromanianfeamin
- Albanianfemër
- Albanianfemën
Italo-Romance
- Italianfemmina
- Corsicanfemina
- Istriotfimana
- Judeo-Italianפֵֿימֵינַה
- Neapolitanfemmena
- Sicilianfìmmina
Northern Gallo-Romance
- Englishfeminiefrom Old French femenie
- Franco-Provençalfèna
- Old Frenchfame
- Middle Englishfeminyefrom Old French femenie
Dalmatian
- unknownfemia
Sardinian
- unknownfemina
- unknownemina
- unknownfemia
Padanian
- Emilianfammna
- Lombardfemna
- Lombardfomna
- Lombardfonna
- Friulianfemine
- Ladinfemena
- Piedmontesefomna
- Piedmontesefombra
- Piedmontesefomla
- Romanshfemna
In English words that came into English from fēmina
- femalefēmella
- femininefēminīnus
- feministfēminīnus
- effeminateeffēminātus
- feminismfēminīnus
- feminizefēmina
- femicidefēmina
- femmefēmina
- feminologyfēmina
- feminafēmina
- femefēmina