androgynous

[ an-droj-uh-nuhs ]

adjective

1. neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance:

   Their new clothing collection is inspired by the androgynous look of many rock stars.

2. having an ambiguous gender or having both masculine and feminine gender characteristics.
3. possessing both male and female physical sex traits.
4. Botany. having staminate and pistillate flowers in the same inflorescence.

androgynous

/ ænˈdrɒdʒɪnəs /

adjective

1. botany having male and female flowers in the same inflorescence, as cuckoo pint
2. having male and female characteristics; hermaphrodite

androgynous

/ ăn-drŏj′ə-nəs /

1. Having both female and male characteristics.

Derived Forms

• anˈdrogyny, noun

Other Words From

• an·drog·y·ny noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of androgynous¹

First recorded in 1620–30; androgyne + -ous

Example Sentences

Being an androgynous designer in the conservative Nigeria can be a pretty difficult feat.

From Essence.com

Their wardrobe grows increasingly androgynous and leather-bound.

From Vox

There were lots and lots of other action movies with guns in them, but The Matrix was the one that made the sleek look of androgynous, leather-clad weapons experts seem effortlessly cool.

From Vox

Choosing clothes and a style of presentation that is androgynous or mixed, they can be misgendered all the time.

From Washington Blade

Consider the controversy over Daybreak Ranger, a seemingly androgynous character.

From The Daily Beast

Haute Butch is one of a number of new design houses targeting the trans, butch, and androgynous dressers.

From The Daily Beast

The marauding, man-eating Titans are mutated, androgynous beasts that have no need to feed but love to kill.

From The Daily Beast

Nor has there been a lack of a strange taste in partners, most notably the case of the androgynous Mrs. Simpson and Edward VIII.

From The Daily Beast

There were boyish suits from yesteryear with puffy white sleeves and fur collars worn by androgynous creatures with white faces.

From The Daily Beast

These flowers are still regarded as more or less sacred, and they are called feminine, although really androgynous.

From Project Gutenberg

For the androgynous woman despises every approach to coquetry, as she despises all the other insignia of feminine servitude.

From Project Gutenberg

The notion of man being at first androgynous, or man-woman, was prevalent in most of the countries of antiquity.

From Project Gutenberg

It escaped him as it has escaped later biologists that Man, the highest of the vertebrates, is still androgynous.

From Project Gutenberg

But to accomplish this work, which we may also call diabolic, isn't an androgynous genius necessary?

From Project Gutenberg