gayness

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English gaynesse, equivalent to gay +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪ.nəs/

  Rhymes: -eɪnəs

Noun

gayness (usually uncountable, plural gaynesses)

1. (rare, dated, countable) The state of being gay (cheerful).
2. (uncountable) The state of being gay (homosexual).
   • 1999, John Corvino, Same Sex, page 185:

     Were there gay people in the ancient world, or is gayness a uniquely modern category?

   • 2015, E. Reltso, Our Sex Saturated Society

     Their goal was to compel open legal recognition of their beliefs about sex and gayness as being the law in the United States.

Synonyms

• homosexuality, queerness
• lesbianism (of women only)

Translations

the state of being cheerful

• Dutch: blijheid (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

homosexuality — see also homosexuality

• Finnish: homous (fi), lesbous (fi)
• Greenlandic: anguteqatinik atoqateqartarneq, arnaqatinik atoqateqartarneq
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Northern Sami: homovuohta, lesbavuohta
• Swedish: bögeri (sv) n, lesbiskhet (sv) c

See also

• gaiety: The state of being gay (in the sense of "happy").

Anagrams

• ganseys