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

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “mugees”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “muxe”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “muxe”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “muxe”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

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)