The term 'misogynist'

[KEV67]

Interesting to me, if not to you, I was reading letter 40 (only 497 to go) of Clarissa by Samuel Richardson, 1748, when Clarissa uses the word 'misogynist' in relation to a Sir Oliver. Sir Oliver who? The notes do not say. Mr Solmes, a fictional character, used his arguments, so presumably Sir Oliver was a real person. I thought the term 'misogynist' was a recent lab release from a social science faculty. When I first started hearing it, I looked it up and it meant someone who hated women, although now it seems a synonym for 'sexist'.

[lunababymoonchild]

misogyny

 (mɪˈsɒdʒɪnɪ; maɪ-) 

n

hatred of women

[C17: from Greek, from miso- + gunē woman]

miˈsogynist n, adj

miˌsogyˈnistic, miˈsogynous adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014