Meanings
plural masculinities
- uncountableusuallyThe degree or property of being masculine or manly; manliness.
Over time, society's ideas of masculinity has greatly broadened.
3 more examples
Of the six homosexual patients, three men finally overcame the underlying vaginaphobia, increased their heterosexual activities, and enhanced their masculinity.
1971, American Journal of Psychotherapy, volume 25, page 657Steven Cohan highlights the suggestive qualities of Red River's dominant narrative, the opposition between the radically different masculinities Clift and Wayne represent: "the highly charged context between the soft boy and the hard man in '''Red River dramatizes such a shift in the mainstream culture's demands upon ''masculinity".
'2013, Elisabetta Girelli, Montgomery Clift, Queer Star, page 33“What this work shows is that masculinity is not just an ideology that men strive to achieve. It’s something we value as a culture,” said lead author Theresa Vescio, a professor of psychology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Pennsylvania State University.
2021 January 9, Sandee LaMotte, “Valuing male dominance may predict support for Trump, study says”, in CNN
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchmasculinité
- Englishmasculinity
From French masculinité, from Old French, equivalent to masculine + -ity. Earlier in same sense was masculineness.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque maskulinotasun
- maskulinotasundegree or property of being masculine
Bengali পুরুষত্ব
- পুরুষত্ব (puruśotto)degree or property of being masculine
Bulgarian мъжественост
- мъжественост (măžestvenost)degree or property of being masculine
Catalan masculinitat
- masculinitatdegree or property of being masculine
Chinese Mandarin 男子特徵 /男子特征
- 男子特徵 /男子特征 (nánzǐ tèzhēng)degree or property of being masculine
Czech mužství
- mužstvídegree or property of being masculine
Danish maskulinitet
- maskulinitetdegree or property of being masculine
Dutch mannelijkheid, masculiniteit
- mannelijkheiddegree or property of being masculine
- masculiniteitdegree or property of being masculine
Esperanto vireco, iĉeco
- virecodegree or property of being masculine
- iĉecodegree or property of being masculine
Finnish miehekkyys, maskuliinisuus
- miehekkyysdegree or property of being masculine
- maskuliinisuusdegree or property of being masculine
French masculinité
- masculinitédegree or property of being masculine
German Männlichkeit, Maskulinität
- Männlichkeitdegree or property of being masculine
- Maskulinitätdegree or property of being masculine
Greek αρρενωπότητα
- αρρενωπότητα (arrenopótita)degree or property of being masculine
Hindi मर्दानगी
- मर्दानगी (mardāngī)degree or property of being masculine
Hungarian férfiasság
- férfiasságdegree or property of being masculine
Indonesian maskulinitas
- maskulinitasdegree or property of being masculine
Irish fearúlacht, fireannacht
- fearúlachtdegree or property of being masculine
- fireannachtdegree or property of being masculine
Italian mascolinità
- mascolinitàdegree or property of being masculine
Japanese 男らしさ, 漢らしさ
- 男らしさ (otoko-rashisa)degree or property of being masculine
- 漢らしさ (otoko-rashisa)degree or property of being masculine
Korean 남성성
- 남성성 (namseongseong)degree or property of being masculine
Latin virīlitās, masculīnitās
- virīlitāsdegree or property of being masculine
- masculīnitāsdegree or property of being masculine
Latvian vīrišķība, vīrišķīgums
- vīrišķībadegree or property of being masculine
- vīrišķīgumsdegree or property of being masculine
Lithuanian vyriškùmas
- vyriškùmasdegree or property of being masculine
Māori tānetanga
- tānetangadegree or property of being masculine
Persian مردانگی
- مردانگی (mardânegi)degree or property of being masculine
Polish męskość
- męskośćdegree or property of being masculine
Portuguese masculinidade
- masculinidadedegree or property of being masculine
Romanian masculinitate
- masculinitatedegree or property of being masculine
Russian му́жественность, маскули́нность
- му́жественность (múžestvennostʹ)degree or property of being masculine
- маскули́нность (maskulínnostʹ)degree or property of being masculine
Slovak mužnosť
- mužnosťdegree or property of being masculine
Spanish masculinidad
- masculinidaddegree or property of being masculine
Swedish maskulinitet
- maskulinitetdegree or property of being masculine
Tagalog pagkalalaki
- pagkalalakidegree or property of being masculine
Tamil ஆண்மை
- ஆண்மை (āṇmai)degree or property of being masculine
Turkish maskülenlik, maskülenite
- maskülenlikdegree or property of being masculine
- maskülenitedegree or property of being masculine
- erkeklikdegree or property of being masculine
- erkeksilikdegree or property of being masculine
- erillikdegree or property of being masculine
Urdu مردانگی
- مردانگی (mardāngī)degree or property of being masculine
Zulu ubudoda
- ubudodadegree or property of being masculine
Cite this entry
masculinity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/masculinity
“masculinity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/masculinity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “masculinity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/masculinity.
Source: masculinity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.