degender

English

Etymology 1

From Latin dēgenerāre.

Alternative forms

• degener (obsolete)

Verb

degender (third-person singular simple present degenders, present participle degendering, simple past and past participle degendered)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To degenerate.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Prologue”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 184:

     And if then thoſe may any vvorſe be red, / They into that ere long will be degendered.

Etymology 2

From de- +‎ gender.

Verb

degender (third-person singular simple present degenders, present participle degendering, simple past and past participle degendered)

1. (transitive) To strip of gender; to make genderless or gender-neutral.
   • 2005, R. W. Connell, Masculinities, page 232:

     It follows that a degendering strategy, an attempt to dismantle hegemonic masculinity, is unavoidable […]

2. (transitive) To refer to (someone) with terms that avoid mentioning their gender, such as calling a woman "they" or using "my partner" to refer to one's girlfriend.

See also

• ungender

References

• “degender”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• gendered