Word of the Day

: March 28, 2009

effete

adjective ih-FEET

What It Means

1 : no longer fertile

2 a : having lost character, vitality, or strength

b : marked by weakness or decadence

c : soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existence; also : characteristic of an effete person

3 : effeminate

effete in Context

"Virginia Woolf is often depicted as a dreamy, effete snob, agonizing all day over a single adjective while sipping tea…." (Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, November 2, 2008)

Did You Know?

"Effete" derives from Latin "effetus," meaning "no longer fruitful," and for a brief time in English it was used to describe an animal no longer capable of producing offspring. For most of its existence in English, however, the use of "effete" has been entirely figurative. For many years, the usual figurative sense of the word was "exhausted" or "worn out," but today "effete" is more likely to suggest overrefinement, weakness of character, snobbery, and effeminacy. "Effete" first showed signs of acquiring these shades of meaning in the 1920s, but it wasn't until the 1940s that the new "effete" clearly established itself in reputable writing. One example can be found in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel Cannery Row: "now and then some effete customer would order a stinger or an anisette."