What does virilizing mean?
“Virilizing” means causing or tending to cause virility: making a person, body, voice, or image seem or become more distinctly masculine. Its strongest established use is medical and biological, especially for the development or induction of male secondary sexual characteristics, though it can also describe anything that lends an unmistakably masculine character. In general writing, “virilizing” is less neutral than “masculinizing” because “virile” can evoke sexual potency as well as physical masculinity; the choice may therefore carry a clinical or deliberately emphatic tone. The word functions as an adjective and as the present participle of “virilize.” “Masculinizing” is the closest common synonym, while “feminizing” and “emasculating” provide clear contrasts. The term is used in both British and American English. Knowing it helps in medical writing and in discussions of hormones, gender, and cultural imagery, while also making its loaded history visible: it ultimately derives from the Latin word for “man.”
Causing or tending to cause virility or distinctly masculine physical characteristics.
"Researchers identified a strong virilizing effect in the hormone treatment."
Common in medical and biological writing; figurative uses usually mean making an image or presentation more distinctly masculine.
Present participle of “virilize,” meaning to make something or someone virile or more distinctly masculine.
"The doctor explained that the therapy was virilizing the patient, causing hair growth and a deeper voice."
The word reaches back to the Latin vir, meaning “man,” the same root found in virile and virility.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does virilizing come from?
“Virilizing” derives from the English verb “virilize,” which was formed from “virile.” “Virile” comes from Latin virilis, meaning “manly” or “masculine,” from vir, meaning “man.” The same Latin source underlies “virility” and the related English formation “virilization.”
Related word forms
How virilizing is actually used
The word is most common in medical and biological contexts, especially in discussions of hormones and the development of male secondary sexual characteristics. It can sound clinical in such use. Figuratively, it often means masculinizing, although the two terms may not describe a sharply distinct process.
Easily confused with virilizing
Virilizing means making something virile or more distinctly masculine, whereas viralizing means making something spread rapidly online or through other media.