The story
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁(y)-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂
- Proto-Italic*θēmanā
- Proto-Italic*fēmanā
- Latinfēmina
- Latinfēminīnus
- Old Frenchfeminin
- Middle Englishfemynyne
- English todayfeminine
From Middle English feminine, femynyne, femynyn, from Old French feminin, feminine, from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-eh₂ (“(the one) nursing, breastfeeding”). Related to fetus, feminism, filial, fellatio.
Words from the same roots
Latinfēminīnus all →
feministfeminism
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.