From Middle English eunuk, from Middle French eunuque, from Latin eunūchus, from Ancient Greek εὐνοῦχος, from εὐνή ("bed") + ἔχω ("I have, keep").

• enPR: yo͞oʹnək, IPA: /ˈjuː.nək/

eunuch (plural eunuchs)

1. A castrated human male.
2. Such a man employed as harem guard or in certain (mainly Eastern) monarchies (e.g. late Roman and Chinese Empires) as court or state officials.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii ↗:

     He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch,
     And in my Sarell tend my Concubines

3. (in translations of ancient texts) A man who is not inclined to marry and procreate.
4. (figurative) One that is ineffectual.

• gelding

• French: eunuque, castrat
• German: Eunuch, weiblicher Eunuch, Kastrat
• Italian: eunuco
• Portuguese: eunuco
• Russian: е́внух
• Spanish: eunuco

• French: eunuque
• German: Eunuch
• Italian: eunuco
• Portuguese: eunuco
• Russian: е́внух
• Spanish: eunuco

eunuch (eunuches, present participle eunuching; simple past and past participle eunuched)

1. To castrate
2. (figurative) To render ineffectual.