Noun: eunuch
| Singular | eunuch |
| Plural | eunuchs |
Sample Sentences
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Semiramis was the first woman to invent eunuchs and women have had sympathy for them ever since; […] and women can tell them what they can't tell other men. [1922, Michael Arlen, “2/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:]
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He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch,
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And in my Sarell tend my Concubines [c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:]
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I, and by heauen, one that will doe the deede, / Though Argus were her Eunuch and her garde. [c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:]
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Hence sawcy Eunuch peace, / she hath betraid me, / And shall dye the death. [c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene xiv]:]
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[describing a bas-relief] An eunuch holds a fly-flapper or fan over the head of the king, who appears to be conversing or performing some ceremony with a figure standing in front of him; probably his vizir or minister. [1849, Austen Henry Layard, chapter III, in Nineveh and Its Remains: with an account of a visit to the Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan:]
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Mr. Peterson really reaches for a low one when he says, "They (gays) should never commit themselves to any broader ideological movement." I am, paradoxically, a Christian, a Maxist, a Gay, and a Human Being. To be gay one should not be a political eunuch. [1976 December 11, Ronnie Allen, “No Political Eunuch”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 4:]
Nouns inflected like eunuch
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Ancient Greek εὐνή (eunḗ)
3. Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ-der.
4. Proto-Hellenic *hékʰō
5. Ancient Greek ἔχω (ékhō)
6. Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ-
7. Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰeti
8. Proto-Hellenic *wékʰō
9. Ancient Greek ϝέχω (wékhō)?
10. Ancient Greek -οῦχος (-oûkhos)
11. Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos)bor.
12. Latin eunūchusder.
13. Middle English eunuk
14. English eunuch
15. From Middle English eunuk, from Middle French eunuque, from Latin eunūchus, from Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος (eunoûkhos), from εὐνή (eunḗ, “bed”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, keep”). Originally probably used to refer to a bed chamber attendant. See: Middle English Nouns '
eunuk', Latin Nouns '
eunūchus', Ancient Greek Nouns '
εὐνοῦχος'.