epicene character

9.9

A character who looks or acts like both a man and a woman

noun
/ˈɛpɪsiːn ˈkɛrɪktər/

Literature

: personaje epiceno

The novel's epicene character fascinated readers with their fluid identity.

Examples

In classical theater, an epicene character might be portrayed to challenge conventional gender roles.
An epicene character can challenge readers' perceptions of gender.
Critics praised the director's bold interpretation of the opera's epicene character.
The epicene character was portrayed beautifully in the adaptation!
In the film, the epicene character embodies traits of both masculinity and femininity, captivating the audience.
The playwright created an epicene character to provoke thought about gender and identity in modern society.
Readers were intrigued by the epicene character, who defied traditional gender norms throughout the story.

Synonyms

epicene role

vsepicene character

9.8

A character in a play who is not clearly male or female

emphasizes both male and female traits instead of being simply unspecified

How Androgynous

epicene character

Literature

9.9

genderqueer

1 8.1

male

770 1.0

Surface Forms

epicene character singular

epicene characters plural

Morphology

epicene + character

The meaning is fully compositional: ‘epicene’ (showing both male and female traits) directly modifies ‘character’ (a fictional person), so the phrase means a character possessing both or ambiguous gender traits. This follows a normal adjective+noun pattern rather than an idiomatic shift, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Epicene character comes from older grammar, where epicene described a word that could mean either a man or a woman. So an epicene character is a person in a story whose gender is 'not clearly male or female' or shows traits of both, which is why we use the phrase today.