"fem" meaning in English

See fem in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /fɛm/ Audio: En-au-fem.ogg Forms: more fem [comparative], most fem [superlative]
Rhymes: -ɛm Etymology: Clipping of feminine Etymology templates: {{clipping|en|feminine}} Clipping of feminine Head templates: {{en-adj}} fem (comparative more fem, superlative most fem)
  1. (colloquial) Feminine, effeminate. Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-fem-en-adj-2wOCBdWs Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 10 entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 39 38 12 Disambiguation of Pages with 10 entries: 3 2 3 22 26 13 8 10 12
  2. (LGBTQ) Synonym of femme Categories (topical): LGBTQ Synonyms: femme [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-fem-en-adj-s49E-PBs Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 39 38 12
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: factfem, Fem&M's, femboy (english: a feminine male), fem lib, Femlock, FemShep, femslash, femspeak, meanfem, nicefem, rudefem

Noun

IPA: /fɛm/ Audio: En-au-fem.ogg Forms: fems [plural]
Rhymes: -ɛm Etymology: Clipping of feminine Etymology templates: {{clipping|en|feminine}} Clipping of feminine Head templates: {{en-noun}} fem (plural fems)
  1. (LGBTQ, uncommon) Synonym of femme Tags: uncommon Categories (topical): LGBTQ Synonyms: femme [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-fem-en-noun-s49E-PBs Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 39 38 12
  2. (colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A feminine or effeminate person. Tags: colloquial, derogatory, sometimes
    Sense id: en-fem-en-noun-ycIC9w4~ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 10 entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 39 38 12 Disambiguation of Pages with 10 entries: 3 2 3 22 26 13 8 10 12

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feminine"
      },
      "expansion": "Clipping of feminine",
      "name": "clipping"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Clipping of feminine",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fems",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fem (plural fems)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butch"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "LGBTQ",
          "orig": "en:LGBTQ",
          "parents": [
            "Sexuality",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Sex",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Reproduction",
            "Fundamental",
            "Life",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 39 38 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community, Routledge, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Oral history gave them an opportunity to share their vision of the world across generations, while giving us a chance to imagine the pleasure and pain of daily life for butches and fems in an earlier period.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "id": "en-fem-en-noun-s49E-PBs",
      "links": [
        [
          "LGBTQ",
          "LGBTQ"
        ],
        [
          "femme",
          "femme#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(LGBTQ, uncommon) Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "femme"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncommon"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "11 39 38 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 2 3 22 26 13 8 10 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 10 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014, D Shuckerow, Take off your masc: The hegemonic gay male's gender performance on Grindr, quoting someone on Grindr",
          "text": "Versatile, but love to bottom … No divas or fems. Not homophobic at all, just my personal preference."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Luis Menéndez-Antuña, Thinking Sex with the Great Whore: Deviant Sexualities and Empire in the Book of Revelation, Routledge, →ISBN:",
          "text": "[...] chasers looking for silver daddies, exec types for college jocks, straights for gays, fems for mascs, smooths for hairies, huskies for slims, blacks for Latinos, whites for Asians, straights for gays, white collars for blue collars, ...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A feminine or effeminate person."
      ],
      "id": "en-fem-en-noun-ycIC9w4~",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "feminine",
          "feminine"
        ],
        [
          "effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A feminine or effeminate person."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "derogatory",
        "sometimes"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-fem.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg/En-au-fem.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fem"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "factfem"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "Fem&M's"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "english": "a feminine male",
      "word": "femboy"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "fem lib"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "Femlock"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "FemShep"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "femslash"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "femspeak"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "meanfem"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "nicefem"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "rudefem"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feminine"
      },
      "expansion": "Clipping of feminine",
      "name": "clipping"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Clipping of feminine",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more fem",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most fem",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fem (comparative more fem, superlative most fem)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "masc"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "11 39 38 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 2 3 22 26 13 8 10 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 10 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Feminine, effeminate."
      ],
      "id": "en-fem-en-adj-2wOCBdWs",
      "links": [
        [
          "Feminine",
          "feminine"
        ],
        [
          "effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) Feminine, effeminate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butch"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "LGBTQ",
          "orig": "en:LGBTQ",
          "parents": [
            "Sexuality",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Sex",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Reproduction",
            "Fundamental",
            "Life",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 39 38 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Cameron McCarthy, Globalizing Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Interventions in Theory, Method, and Policy, Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 79:",
          "text": "Dozens of queers, including female to male/male to female transsexuals, leathers, bears and bisexuals, butch and fem lesbians, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "id": "en-fem-en-adj-s49E-PBs",
      "links": [
        [
          "LGBTQ",
          "LGBTQ"
        ],
        [
          "femme",
          "femme#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(LGBTQ) Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "femme"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-fem.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg/En-au-fem.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fem"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English clippings",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 10 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛm",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛm/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feminine"
      },
      "expansion": "Clipping of feminine",
      "name": "clipping"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Clipping of feminine",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fems",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fem (plural fems)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butch"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with uncommon senses",
        "en:LGBTQ"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community, Routledge, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Oral history gave them an opportunity to share their vision of the world across generations, while giving us a chance to imagine the pleasure and pain of daily life for butches and fems in an earlier period.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "LGBTQ",
          "LGBTQ"
        ],
        [
          "femme",
          "femme#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(LGBTQ, uncommon) Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "femme"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncommon"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014, D Shuckerow, Take off your masc: The hegemonic gay male's gender performance on Grindr, quoting someone on Grindr",
          "text": "Versatile, but love to bottom … No divas or fems. Not homophobic at all, just my personal preference."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018, Luis Menéndez-Antuña, Thinking Sex with the Great Whore: Deviant Sexualities and Empire in the Book of Revelation, Routledge, →ISBN:",
          "text": "[...] chasers looking for silver daddies, exec types for college jocks, straights for gays, fems for mascs, smooths for hairies, huskies for slims, blacks for Latinos, whites for Asians, straights for gays, white collars for blue collars, ...",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A feminine or effeminate person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "feminine",
          "feminine"
        ],
        [
          "effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A feminine or effeminate person."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "derogatory",
        "sometimes"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-fem.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg/En-au-fem.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fem"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English clippings",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 10 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛm",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛm/1 syllable"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "factfem"
    },
    {
      "word": "Fem&M's"
    },
    {
      "english": "a feminine male",
      "word": "femboy"
    },
    {
      "word": "fem lib"
    },
    {
      "word": "Femlock"
    },
    {
      "word": "FemShep"
    },
    {
      "word": "femslash"
    },
    {
      "word": "femspeak"
    },
    {
      "word": "meanfem"
    },
    {
      "word": "nicefem"
    },
    {
      "word": "rudefem"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feminine"
      },
      "expansion": "Clipping of feminine",
      "name": "clipping"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Clipping of feminine",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more fem",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most fem",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fem (comparative more fem, superlative most fem)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "masc"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Feminine, effeminate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Feminine",
          "feminine"
        ],
        [
          "effeminate",
          "effeminate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) Feminine, effeminate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "butch"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:LGBTQ"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Cameron McCarthy, Globalizing Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Interventions in Theory, Method, and Policy, Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 79:",
          "text": "Dozens of queers, including female to male/male to female transsexuals, leathers, bears and bisexuals, butch and fem lesbians, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "LGBTQ",
          "LGBTQ"
        ],
        [
          "femme",
          "femme#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(LGBTQ) Synonym of femme"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "femme"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-fem.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg/En-au-fem.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/En-au-fem.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fem"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fem meaning in English (4.8kB)

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: LGBTQ, uncommon",
  "path": [
    "fem"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "fem",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: LGBTQ, uncommon",
  "path": [
    "fem"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "fem",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: LGBTQ",
  "path": [
    "fem"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "adjective",
  "title": "fem",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: LGBTQ",
  "path": [
    "fem"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "adjective",
  "title": "fem",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.