c. 1924, "muscular low-I.Q. male," perhaps from Spanish bozal, used in the slave trade and also to mean "one who speaks Spanish poorly." Bozo the clown was created 1940 at Capitol Records as the voice in a series of story-telling records for children ["Wall Street Journal," Oct. 31, 1983].

custom by which the male next-of-kin of a dead man was bound to marry his widow, 1725, with -ate (2) + Latin levir "brother-in-law," from PIE *daiwer- "husband's brother" (source also of Greek daer, Sanskrit devara, Old English tacor, Old High German zeihhur). Related: Leviratic; leviratical.

"one having characteristics of both sexes," 1917, from German intersexe (1915); see inter- "between" + sex (n.). Coined by German-born U.S. geneticist Richard Benedict Goldschmidt (1878-1958). Intersexual is from 1866 as "existing between the sexes, pertaining to both sexes;" from 1916 as "having both male and female characteristics." Related: intersexuality.

fem. proper name, from Late Latin Jesca, from Greek Ieskha, from Hebrew Yiskah, name of a daughter of Haran (Genesis xi.29). Among the top 5 popular names for girls born in the U.S. every year between 1977 and 1997. The familiar form Jessie was one of many fem. names used 20c. for "cowardly or effeminate male" (1923).

"fellow," 1847, American English; earlier, in British English (1836) "grotesquely or poorly dressed person," originally (1806) "effigy of Guy Fawkes," leader of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up British king and Parliament (Nov. 5, 1605). The effigies were paraded through the streets by children on the anniversary of the conspiracy. The male proper name is from French, related to Italian Guido.

alternative plural of brother (q.v.); predominant c. 1200-1600s, but surviving only in religious usage and not now used in reference to male children of the same parents. The title was adopted by primitive Christians (Acts xviii, etc.) and so was taken by various Protestant sects, such as the Dunkers.

early 14c., of things or behaviors, "wicked, sinful;" mid-15c., of persons, "having an evil disposition toward others, harboring violent hatred," from Old French maligne "having an evil nature," from Latin malignus "wicked, bad-natured," from male "badly" (see mal-) + -gnus "born," from gignere "to bear, beget," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget."

short-billed nocturnal bird, goatsucker, 1620s, from night + jar (v.). So called for the "jarring" sounds made by the male when the female is brooding, which have been described as a "churring trill that seems to change direction as it rises and falls." An Old English word for it was nihthræfn "night raven."

"brother of one's husband or wife," also "brother of one's sister's husband," c. 1300; also brother in law; see brother + in-law. In Arabic, Urdu, Swahili, etc., brother-in-law, when addressed to a male who is not a brother-in-law, is an extreme insult, with implications of "I slept with your sister."

c. 1300, "one who makes music with the voice, a singer," male or female (mid-13c. as a surname), agent noun from sing (v.). It replaced Old English songer "psalm-writer," sangere "singer, poet" (also see songster). Fem. form singestre is attested from early 13c. (translating Latin cantrix); singeresse is from late 14c.