Literary notes about feminine (AI summary)
The term “feminine” in literature has been employed with great versatility, ranging from its role as a grammatical category—as seen in clear-cut definitions of pronoun and noun gender ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5])—to a modifier laden with cultural, symbolic, and emotional connotations. Writers have used it to evoke softness, charm, and delicacy in character voices and appearances ([6], [7], [8]), while also ascribing to it attributes of mystery, intuition, or even weakness in social and psychological contexts ([9], [10], [11]). Beyond mere description, “feminine” often functions as a conceptual tool in philosophical and socio-political discussions, contrasting it with masculine traits and revealing inherent biases in perceptions of gender ([12], [13], [14]). Thus, whether pointing to physical features, grammatical structure, or abstract ideals, the word “feminine” becomes a multifaceted symbol through which authors negotiate ideas of identity, power, and cultural norms ([15], [16], [17]).
- Feminine : she , her , hers .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Feminine.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Jane is a proper noun of the feminine gender, in the singular number and second person.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - A noun or pronoun denoting a female being is of the feminine gender.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - The gender of masculine and of feminine nouns may be shown in various ways.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - “What a pretty spot!” said a feminine voice.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - “Forgive me for receiving you here,” the lieutenant heard in a mellow feminine voice with a burr on the letter r which was not without charm.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - At that moment, to his surprise, he heard hurried footsteps and the rustling of a dress, a breathless feminine voice whispered “At last!”
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Lydgate's anger rose: he was prepared to be indulgent towards feminine weakness, but not towards feminine dictation.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - Whereupon she went to work, having the feminine aversion of going to hell.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - Does your feminine tyranny require that when you say the thing you mean is one of several things, I should know it immediately by that mark?"
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - Reason is feminine in nature; it can only give after it has received.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer - Bushido being a teaching primarily intended for the masculine sex, the virtues it prized in woman were naturally far from being distinctly feminine.
— from Bushido, the Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe - In Jesus the masculine and feminine elements of humanity were blended harmoniously.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - He wished woman to recognize the feminine element in her being, for if she understood this, it would guide her in everything.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - The goddess represents the feminine element in the universe.
— from Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism by Thomas Inman and M.R.C.S.E. John Newton - The eternal feminine, the odious and seductive feminine, was stronger in her than in any other woman.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant