LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · masculinesecond declension

sēmivir

sēmivir m (genitive sēmivirī)
Classical[ˈseː.mɪ.wɪr]Ecclesiastical[ˈsɛː.mi.vir]

Meaning

  1. a half-man, half man and half beast, semihomo, e.g., the centaur Chiron
    Nocte minus quārtā prōmet sua sīdera Chīrōn[One] less [than] the fourth night, Chiron will bring forth his stars: a half-man, and joined with the body of a tawny horse. (See: Centaur; Chiron; Centaurus.)8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.379–380
  2. a half-man in a derogatory sense of seeming effeminate or unmanly
    “Et nunc ille Paris cum sēmivirō comitātū, Maeoniā mentum mitrā crīnemque madentem subnexus, raptō potītur [...]. “And now, that [other] Paris – with his troupe of half-men, and his pomaded hair in a Maeonian turban tied under his chin – holds tight what he has stolen [from me].”(As Paris took Helen, Aeneas has taken Dido; and so a jealous King Iarbas says that the outsiders’ appearance is unmanly, and perhaps implies that they could be eunuchs.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.215–217
  3. castrated man, eunuch
  4. hermaphrodite

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

dīmidius vir, mollis
sēmivir -virī (m) — in Aeneis, ch. 10

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativesēmivirsēmivirī
genitivesēmivirīsēmivirōrum
dativesēmivirōsēmivirīs
accusativesēmivirumsēmivirōs
ablativesēmivirōsēmivirīs
vocativesēmivirsēmivirī

sēmĭ-vĭr, vĭri, m. adj.,
I. a half-man, i. q. semihomo and semimas (not anteAug.).
I. Lit.
A. Half man and half beast, e. g. the Centaur Chiron. Ov. F. 5, 380; the Minotaur, id. A. A. 2, 24 (cf. semibos): Nessus, id. H. 9, 141.—
B. An hermaphrodite, Ov. M. 4, 386; Plin. 11, 49, 110, § 263.—
II. Transf., emasculated.
A. Lit., of a priest of Cybele (cf. semimas), Juv. 6, 513: semiviri chori, Sil. 17, 20: formosum adulescentem semivirum reddidit, Lact. 1, 17, 7. —
B. Trop., unmanly, womanish, effeminate: et nunc ille Paris cum semiviro comitatu, Verg. A. 4, 215: Phryx, id. ib. 12, 99; Lact. 1, 10, 9; Stat. Achill. 2, 363.—So esp. of debauchees: qui tam atrocem caedem pertinere ad illos semiviros crederent (for which, just before: molles and obsceni viri), Liv. 33, 28, 7: impure ac semivir, Luc. 8, 552.

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sēmi
  3. Latinsēmivir

Latin vir Latin sēmivir From semi- (“half”) + vir (“man”).

Quick answers

What does sēmivir mean in Latin?
sēmivir, a noun, means “a half-man, half man and half beast, semihomo, e.g., the centaur Chiron; a half-man in a derogatory sense of seeming effeminate or unmanly; castrated man, eunuch”.
What is the genitive of sēmivir?
The genitive singular is sēmivirī. sēmivir is masculine, second declension.
How do you pronounce sēmivir?
In classical Latin, [ˈseː.mɪ.wɪr]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈsɛː.mi.vir].
Where does sēmivir come from?
Proto-Indo-European *sem- → Proto-Indo-European *sēmi → Latin sēmivir.