Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - feminine

 I. adjective  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French feminin, from Latin femininus, from femina woman; akin to Old English delu nipple, Latin filius son, felix, fetus, & fecundus fruitful, felare to suck, Greek thele nipple  Date: 14th century  1. female 1a(1)  2. characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women ~ beauty a ~ perspective  3. of, relating to, or constituting the gender that ordinarily includes most words or grammatical forms referring to females a ~ noun  4.  a. being an unstressed and usually hypermetric final syllable a ~ ending  b. of rhyme having an unstressed final syllable  c. having the final chord occurring on a weak beat music in ~ cadences  • ~ly adverb  • ~ness noun  II. noun  Date: 15th century  1.  a. a noun, pronoun, adjective, or inflectional form or class of the ~ gender  b. the ~ gender  2. the embodiment or conception of a timeless or idealized ~ nature the eternal ~