Meanings
plural feminisms
- countableuncountableA social theory or political movement which argues that legal and social restrictions on women must be removed in order to bring about equality of the sexes in all aspects of public and private life.
Ooh! “Even the ladies!” #feminism #confedera-she !
2017, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Confederacy”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO3 more examples
Women are still forbidden to smoke there... Ardent though we are in feminism, we applaud this stand...
1926 November 27, “The Talk of the Town”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN, page 17There are by now many feminisms (Tong, 1989; Humm, 1992). Alongside and often overlapping with older-identified distinctions between liberal, socialist, radical and cultural feminisms, for example (important as they are in their different accounts of sexual difference and gender power), are variously named black, third-world ethnic-minority feminisms, themselves far from homogenous.
1996, Jan Jindy Pettman, Worlding Women: A feminist international politics, page ix-xNothing untrue or over the top — it's gotta be sincere. I do it for men, too. My brand of feminism is rooted in equality."
2024 August 22, Marisa Martinez, quoting lady_fresh, “Women Are Sharing Their Preferred Acts Of Microfeminism”, in BuzzFeed, archived from the original on 27 Aug 2024 - countableobsoleteuncountableThe state of being feminine; femininity.First known use 1851; less common after 1895
His hair is delicate and silky, and of a light chesnut[sic]—one of M. Lorrain's signs of feminism.
1875 July 24, The Medical Times and Gazette, volume II, page 105
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe movement aimed at equal rights for women
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁(y)-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂
- Proto-Italic*θēmanā
- Proto-Italic*fēmanā
- Latinfēmina
- Latinfēminīnu
- Frenchféminin
- Frenchféminisme
- Englishfeminism
From French féminisme circa 1837, ultimately from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”). In the original sense of “women's movement or advocacy”, the French word was probably directly derived from fēmina, as if from Neo-Latin feminismus. By surface analysis, feminine + -ism. First recorded in English in 1851, originally meaning “the state of being feminine”. Sense of “advocacy of women's rights” is from 1895.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans feminisme
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
Arabic حَرَكَة حُقُوق الْمَرْأَة, أُنْثَوِيَّة
- حَرَكَة حُقُوق الْمَرْأَة (ḥarakat ḥuqūq al-marʔa)the social theory or political movement
- أُنْثَوِيَّة (ʔunṯawiyya)the social theory or political movement
- نِسْوِيَّة (niswiyya)the social theory or political movement
- فِيمِينِيزْم (fiminizm)the social theory or political movement
Bengali নারীবাদ
- নারীবাদ (naribad)the social theory or political movement
Bulgarian фемини́зъм
- фемини́зъм (feminízăm)the social theory or political movement
Catalan feminisme
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
Chinese Mandarin 女權主義 /女权主义, 女性主義 /女性主义
- 女權主義 /女权主义 (nǚquánzhǔyì)the social theory or political movement
- 女性主義 /女性主义 (nǚxìngzhǔyì)the social theory or political movement
- 女權擴張論 /女权扩张论 (nǚquán kuòzhānglùn)the social theory or political movement
Czech feminismus
- feminismusthe social theory or political movement
Danish feminisme
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
Dutch feminisme
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
Esperanto feminismo
- feminismothe social theory or political movement
Estonian feminism
- feminismthe social theory or political movement
Finnish feminismi
- feminismithe social theory or political movement
French féminisme
- féminismethe social theory or political movement
German Feminismus
- Feminismusthe social theory or political movement
Greek φεμινισμός
- φεμινισμός (feminismós)the social theory or political movement
Hebrew פמיניזם \ פֶמִינִיזְם
- פמיניזם \ פֶמִינִיזְם (feminízm)the social theory or political movement
Hindi नारीवाद, स्त्रीवाद
- नारीवाद (nārīvād)the social theory or political movement
- स्त्रीवाद (strīvād)the social theory or political movement
- महिलावाद (mahilāvād)the social theory or political movement
Hungarian feminizmus
- feminizmusthe social theory or political movement
Icelandic femínismi
- femínismithe social theory or political movement
Indonesian feminisme
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
Irish feimineachas
- feimineachasthe social theory or political movement
Italian femminismo
- femminismothe social theory or political movement
Japanese フェミニズム, 女権拡張論
- フェミニズム (feminizumu)the social theory or political movement
- 女権拡張論 (joken kakuchōron)the social theory or political movement
Korean 페미니즘, 여성주의
- 페미니즘 (peminijeum)the social theory or political movement
- 여성주의 (yeoseongjuui)the social theory or political movement
Latin feminismus
- feminismusthe social theory or political movement
Latvian feminisms
- feminismsthe social theory or political movement
Lithuanian feminizmas
- feminizmasthe social theory or political movement
Malay faham kewanitaan, faham feminis
- faham kewanitaanthe social theory or political movement
- faham feministhe social theory or political movement
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
Norwegian Bokmål feminisme, kvinnesak
- feminismethe social theory or political movement
- kvinnesakthe social theory or political movement
Persian فمینیسم
- فمینیسمthe social theory or political movement
Polish feminizm
- feminizmthe social theory or political movement
Portuguese feminismo
- feminismothe social theory or political movement
Romanian feminism
- feminismthe social theory or political movement
Russian фемини́зм
- фемини́зм (feminízm)the social theory or political movement
Scottish Gaelic boireann-dhligheachas
- boireann-dhligheachasthe social theory or political movement
Slovak feminizmus
- feminizmusthe social theory or political movement
Spanish feminismo
- feminismothe social theory or political movement
Swahili ufeministi
- ufeministithe social theory or political movement
Swedish feminism
- feminismthe social theory or political movement
Tamil பெண்ணியம்
- பெண்ணியம் (peṇṇiyam)the social theory or political movement
Thai สตรีนิยม
- สตรีนิยม (sà-dtrii-ní-yom)the social theory or political movement
Turkish feminizm
- feminizmthe social theory or political movement
Ukrainian феміні́зм
- феміні́зм (feminízm)the social theory or political movement
Urdu نِسوانِیَّت, تَحرِیک نِسوانِیَّت
- نِسوانِیَّت (nisvāniyyat)the social theory or political movement
- تَحرِیک نِسوانِیَّت (taihrīk-e-nisvāniyyat)the social theory or political movement
- نِسوانِیَّت کی تَحرِیک (nisvāniyyat kī taihrīk)the social theory or political movement
- نسانیت (nisāniyat)the social theory or political movement
Vietnamese chủ nghĩa nữ quyền
- chủ nghĩa nữ quyềnthe social theory or political movement
Welsh ffeministiaeth
- ffeministiaeththe social theory or political movement
Yiddish פֿעמיניזם
- פֿעמיניזם (feminizm)the social theory or political movement
Cite this entry
feminism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feminism
“feminism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feminism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “feminism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feminism.
Source: feminism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.