neuter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnjuːtə/
ipa: /ˈn(j)utɚ/
rhymes: -uːtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: neuters
form: n.
form: n
form: ntr
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“whether”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English whether and neither.
Senses: topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: An organism, either vegetable or animal, which at its maturity has no generative organs, or but imperfectly developed ones, as a plant without stamens or pistils, as the garden Hydrangea; especially, one of the imperfectly developed females of certain social insects, as of the ant and the common honeybee, which perform the labors of the community, and are called workers.
examples: text: the information i acquire may help me finalize my decision to become a neuter. let me say that castration is (for me) in no way a short term goal. it's something i've heard about, thought about, and believe may benefit me personally.
ref: 1999 July 21, ipso facto, “can anyone out there tell me...”, in alt.eunuchs.questions (Usenet):
text: I WOULD SOONER BECOME A NEUTER
no seriously tell me where the libido-suppressing pills are
ref: 2015 March 8, @OzKFodrotski, Twitter:
text: You can change yourself into a neuter, but you can't become the opposite sex.
ref: 2023 September 27, @Philosophy_the, Twitter:
glosses: One who has been neutered; eunuch.
examples: text: Well, we've had a young (probably around a year old, but I'm guessing), intact (he's scheduled for a neuter, but it's one of those "when we get a spare minute" type of things) male Shih-tzu/shih-tzu mix come in about a month ago.
ref: 2001 March 14, Shelly, “Shih tzu questions.”, in rec.pets.dogs.behavior (Usenet):
glosses: The act of neutering (typically an animal)
examples: text: But if you should beecome eyther a counterfayt Protestant, or a perverse Papist, or a colde and carelesse newter (which God forbid) the harme could not be expressed which you should do to your native Cuntrie.
ref: 1571, Arthur Golding, “Epistle Dedicatorie”, in The Psalmes of David and others. With M. John Calvins Commentaries:
text: Friends, neuters, enemies, all are as one, to make a fool a madman is their sport […].
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection iv:
glosses: A person who takes no part in a contest; someone remaining neutral.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: The neuter gender.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.
examples: text: Make one do, or act (to), fare fare, fare agire, with an accusative when the verb is a neuter, and with a dative when otherwise.
ref: 1820, M. Santagnello, A Dictionary of the Peculiarities of the Italian Language, G. and W. B. Whittaker, page 185
text: Compound verbs other than those already spoken of whereby neuters are made active, are very rare, as I have already hinted under the head of nouns.
ref: 1847, Brian Houghton Hodgson, Essay the First; On the Kocch, Bódo and Dhimál Tribes, in Three Parts, J. Thomas, page 119
text: In all the Apachean languages, verbs are divided into two major categories, neuters and actives, each of which may be further divided into intransitives, transitives, and passives.
ref: 1971, Harry Hoijer, “Athapaskan Morphology”, in Jesse O. Sawyer, editor, Studies in American Indian Languages, University of California Press, published 1973, →ISBN, page 130:
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb.
Coordinate terms: topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: gender
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: noun