Wommenkynde

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Archaic term for women considered together as a group, or the female sex as a whole
2. An old word referring to the entire female sex, meaning all women taken collectively as a kind
3. Medieval English noun for womankind, the whole body of women regarded as one category of people

Etymology: In Old English, a woman was a "wifmann," from "wif," meaning woman or wife, and "mann," which meant a human being of either sex. The "man" in "woman" was once gender-neutral, much like the "man" in "mankind." Over time "wif" narrowed to mean a married woman, and "wifmann" was worn down to "woman," so the modern word keeps its old meaning of "person" hidden inside it. "Wommenkynde" is a Middle English spelling of "womankind," joining "women," the plural of "woman," with "kynde," meaning kind, race, or sort. The sense was collective: all women taken together as a group, the female sex as a whole. The compound's ending is the same "-kind" found in "mankind," so the two words are close relatives built on the same pattern.