muxe

English

Noun

muxe (plural muxes)

1. In Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca, a male-assigned person who dresses and acts in a feminine manner, and may be regarded as a third gender.
   • 1985 August 10, Kate Raisz, “The Gay Mushes”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 5, page 10:

     At the back of the file, walking proudly, wearing a new pantsuit and a fresh in his hair, was a mushe. Though I was surprised to see him, no one else batted an eye. He was clearly just another part of the women's procession.

Alternative forms

• muxhe

Galician

Etymology 1

Back-formation from the plural muxes, itself from the medieval mugees, from mugel, from Latin mūgil.

Alternative forms

• muxel, muxo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmuʃe̝/

Noun

muxe m (plural muxes)

1. mullet
   • 1417, Ángel Rodríguez González (ed.), Libro do Concello de Santiago (1416-1422). Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega, page 75:

     Iten a libra dos corvelos et mugees et robalos et robaliças et reos et vesugos et douradas [...] a quatro dineiros cada libra

     Item, the pound of young pollacks and of mullets and of basses and of young basses and of sea trouts and of seabreams and of gilt-head breams [...], four diñeiros each pound

   Synonyms: cabezudo, limoso, taíña

References

• “mugees” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “muxe” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “muxe” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “muxe” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Etymology 2

Verb

muxe

1. second-person singular imperative of muxir

Zapotec

Alternative forms

• ira' muxe

Noun

muxe

1. male-bodied person who acts feminine and/or is homosexual

See also

• two-spirit

References

• Larry P. Gross, James D. Woods, The Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media →ISBN, 1999)