feminism means the state of being feminine; femininity. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 74 out of 100.
feminism is pronounced /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/.
Why “feminism” is a great word
FEMINISM — [Noun] A social theory and political movement advocating for the removal of legal and social restrictions on women to achieve equality of the sexes in all aspects of public and private life. From French féminisme (circa 1837), from Latin fēminīnus ("feminine"), from fēmina ("woman"). The term for the advocacy of women's rights was first recorded in English in 1895. Unlike "misogyny" (which denotes hatred and contempt) or "egalitarianism" (which speaks in general, often gender-blind terms), feminism is the specific, sustained analysis of power that seeks to dismantle gender-based subjugation. It is the quiet click of a latchkey granting a woman her own front door, the collective murmur of voices in a meeting room where they were once a solitary guest, and the deliberate correction of a pronoun in a legal document—the patient architecture of a world not yet fully realized.
Etymology
From French féminisme circa 1837, ultimately from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”). In the original sense of “women's movement or advocacy”, the French word was probably directly derived from fēmina, as if from Neo-Latin feminismus.
First recorded in English in 1851, originally meaning “the state of being feminine”. Sense of “advocacy of women's rights” is from 1895.
noun
- The state of being feminine; femininity.“His hair is delicate and silky, and of a light chesnut[sic]—one of M. Lorrain's signs of feminism.”
- A social theory or political movement which argues that legal and social restrictions on women must be removed in order to bring about equality of the sexes in all aspects of public and private life.“Women are still forbidden to smoke there... Ardent though we are in feminism, we applaud this stand...”