eunuchn.

Brit.

/ˈjuːnək/, U.S.

/ˈjunək/

Forms: [Middle English eunuchus], Middle English enuke, 1500s–1600s eunuche, 1500s– eunuch.

Etymology: < Latin eunūchus, < Greek εὐνοῦχος, < εὐνή bed + -οχ- ablaut-stem of ἔχειν to keep; the literal sense is thus a bedchamber guard or attendant.

(a) A castrated person of the male sex; also, such a person employed as a harem attendant, or in Asian courts and under the Roman emperors, charged with important affairs of state. Also figurative (frequently preceded by a descriptive adjective).

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [noun] > castration > person

geldinga1382

eunuchc1430

spadoc1430

chastelinga1570

capon1594

castrate1639

spade1680

wether1724

demi-male1728

androgyne1742

castrato1763

hijra1838

emasculate1886

half-man-

c1430 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes iii. xxv. 96 a Whan the Enukes to y^e King her brought She was accepted.

1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Bii Speaking..of whoredome, as though they had beene Eunuches from theyr cradle.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. ii. 163 Lord Say hath gelded the Commonwealth, and made it an Eunuch .

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) ii. iii. 89 And they were sons of mine..I would send them to'th Turke to make Eunuches of.

a1616 F. Beaumont Glance in Poems Throw Those flakes upon the eunuch's colder snow.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State iii. xxi. 209 Those who are born Eunuchs deserve no such great commendation for their chastity.

1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 462 He had a mortal Aversion to Eunuchs, that third Species of Mankind.

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. 51 The private apartments of the palace were governed by a favourite eunuch.

1807 J. Robinson Archæol. Græca v. xiii. 472 The first that made eunuchs was Semiramis.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Peter Bell III iv, in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 241/2 But from the first 'twas Peter's drift To be a kind of moral eunuch.

a1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan Ded. in Wks. (1833) XV. 105 The intellectual eunuch Castlereagh.

1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle Lands viii. 224 Achill Aga, offered to show the ladies his harem; and a black eunuch was summoned to escort them.

1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiii. 34 Thither hie the votaress eunuchs with an emulous alacrity.

1963 Times 18 Jan. 9/5 It seems that in Rhodesia one cannot remain neutral, that after all one is provoked to react, or become a political eunuch.

(b) In the Septuagint and the Vulgate the Greek εὐνοῦχος, Latin eunūchus, following the corresponding Hebrew sārīs, sometimes designate palace officials who were not ‘eunuchs’, e.g. Potiphar (Genesis xxxix. 1, where the King James Bible has ‘officer’). Hence the English word has occasionally been similarly used in discussions of passages in which the meaning of the word is disputed.

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a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 305 Putyphar þat was eunuchus..Eunuchus is he þat is i-gilded, and suche were somtyme i-made wardeynes of ladyes in Egipt.]

1557 Bible (Whittingham) Acts viii. 27 (note) Noble men were called Eunuches, although they were not gelded.

b. A male singer, castrated in boyhood, so as to retain an alto or soprano voice. Cf. castrato n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > singer > singer by type of voice > [noun] > castrato

eunuch1732

castrato1763

evirato1796

musico1821

tenorino1867

1732 Ld. Lansdowne Char. Wycherly in Wks. (1736) II. 112 Our modern writers..like Eunuchs..sacrifice their Manhood for a Voice, and reduce Poetry, like Echo to be nothing but Sound.

1738 S. Johnson London 59 Let such..With warbling eunuchs fill a licenc'd stage.

1763 C. Churchill Rosciad in Poems I. 35 Never shall a truly British Age Bear a vile race of Eunuchs on the stage.

c. Used as adj.: Emasculated. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > [adjective] > castrated

geldedc1225

cutted1438

geltc1440

chaste1526

evirate1606

castrated1609

memberless1611

unpaveda1616

libbed1616

cut1624

eunuched1627

caponed1630

untesticled1668

castrate1704

eunuch1817

emasculated1830

eunuchal1878

neuter1893

eunuchoid1894

1817 W. Godwin Mandeville III. 96 He had a mind wholly eunuch and ungenerative in matters of literature and taste.

Compounds

C1. attributive and in other combinations. Also figurative.

ΚΠ

1635 M. Mersenne Harmonicorum Libri ii. ii. 79 De Instrumentis Harmonicis... Fleuste Eunuque. Fistula monofora.]

1667 J. Dryden Annus Mirabilis 1666 xl. 11 That Eunuch Guardian of rich Hollands trade, Who envies us what he wants pow'r t'enjoy.

1739 P. Whitehead Manners 8 What sing-song Riot, and what Eunuch-squawling.

1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey II. iii. vi. 58 Shine on, Sultana of the soul! the Passions are thy eunuch slaves.

1837 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. VI. xlvii. 368 Liberty..expired amidst the servility of eunuchs and the adulation of the East.

C2.

eunuch flute n. a type of mirliton (see quot. 1928).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > other musical instruments > [noun] > kazoo

mirliton1819

hewgag1850

bazoo1877

Tommy Talker1883

kazoo1884

eunuch flute1928

1928 E. W. Naylor Poets & Music v. 97 The ‘eunuch’ flute..is not a flute at all, but a tube covered at the small end with a thin membrane. The performer sings, or rather hums, through a hole in the side, near the membrane.

1961 A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages 19 The Eunuch Flute, and the Bumbass.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† eunuchv.

Etymology: < eunuch n.

Obsolete.

transitive. To make a eunuch of, castrate; also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > infertile [verb (transitive)] > castrate or spay > castrate

geldc1225

lib1396

cut1465

castrate1609

delumbate1609

enervate1610

unstone1611

gliba1616

evirate1621

emasculate1623

capon1630

eunuchize1634

eunuchate1646

caponize1654

unpollux1654

eunucha1658

unman1657

dismember1697

saturnized1846

nut1916

knacker1936

a1658 J. Cleveland Clievelandi Vindiciæ (1677) 15 Give me a Lover bold and free, Not Eunuch'd with Formality; Like an Embassador that beds a Queen.

1682 T. Creech tr. Lucretius De natura rerum ii. 52 They Eunuch all her Preists.

Derivatives

ˈeunuched adj. emasculated.

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