neuter

== English == === Alternative forms === n., n, ntr (abbreviation, grammar) === 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. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈnjuːtə/ (US) IPA(key): /ˈn(j)utɚ/ Rhymes: -uːtə(ɹ) === Adjective === neuter (not generally comparable, comparative more neuter, superlative most neuter) (now uncommon) Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another. Synonyms: impartial, neutral; see also Thesaurus:impartial (grammar) Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender. Coordinate terms: feminine, masculine (grammar) Intransitive. Synonym: intransitive (biology) Sexless: having no or imperfectly developed sex organs. Synonyms: asexual, genderless, sexless (literary) Sexless, nonsexual. Synonyms: asexual, platonic, unsexual (of an animal) Castrated; having had the reproductive organs removed. Synonyms: fixed, gelded, neutered, spayed ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === neuter (plural neuters) (biology) 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. (uncommon, sometimes offensive) One who has been neutered; eunuch. The act of neutering (typically an animal) A person who takes no part in a contest; someone remaining neutral. (grammar) The neuter gender. (grammar) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words. (grammar) An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb. 1820, M. Santagnello, A Dictionary of the Peculiarities of the Italian Language, G. and W. B. Whittaker, page 185: 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. 1847, Brian Houghton Hodgson, Essay the First; On the Kocch, Bódo and Dhimál Tribes, in Three Parts, J. Thomas, page 119: 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. ==== Quotations ==== For quotations using this term, see Citations:neuter. ==== Coordinate terms ==== (grammar, gender/noun): masculine, feminine ==== Translations ==== === Verb === neuter (third-person singular simple present neuters, present participle neutering, simple past and past participle neutered) (transitive) To remove sex organs from an animal to prevent it from having offspring; to castrate or spay, particularly as applied to domestic animals. (transitive) To rid of sexuality. (transitive) To drastically reduce the effectiveness of something. (transitive) To make grammatically neuter. ==== Synonyms ==== castrate, desex, doctor, fix, spay ==== Translations ==== === Anagrams === retune, run tee, tenure, tureen, untree == Latin == === Alternative forms === necuter === Etymology === From ne (“not”) +‎ uter (“either”). In the grammatical sense, a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros), from οὐδέ (oudé, “not”) +‎ ἕτερος (héteros, “one or the other (of two)”). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈne.ʊ.tɛr] (Late Latin) IPA(key): [ˈnɛu̯.tɛr] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈnɛːu̯.ter] Note: always trisyllabic in Classical, often disyllabic in Late Latin. === Adjective === neuter (feminine neutra, neuter neutrum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er, pronominal declension) neither, neither one (grammar) neuter (gender) (grammar) neuter, intransitive (of a verb) ==== Usage notes ==== In the grammatical senses, the declension of this adjective is not pronominal, but attributive (regular). Thus for the sense of the grammatical category of "neuter gender", the genitive is neutrī (generis), and the dative is neutrō (generī). ==== Declension ==== First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er, pronominal declension). ==== Derived terms ==== neutrō ==== Descendants ==== → Catalan: neutre → French: neutre → Friulian: neutri → Galician: neutro → Italian: neutro → Occitan: neutre → Portuguese: neutro → Piedmontese: nèutr → Romanian: neutru → Spanish: neutro === References === “neuter”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “neuter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers “neuter”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[9], London: Macmillan and Co.