Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
epicenes
plural of epicene
Source: Wiktionary
Ep"i*cene, a. & n. Etym: [L. epicoenus, Gr. épicène.]
1. Common to both sexes; -- a term applied, in grammar, to such nouns as have but one form of gender, either the masculine or feminine, to indicate animals of both sexes; as bos, for the ox and cow; sometimes applied to eunuchs and hermaphrodites.
2. Fig.: Sexless; neither one thing nor the other. The literary prigs epicene. Prof. Wilson. He represented an epicene species, neither churchman nor layman. J. A. Symonds.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
2 April 2025
(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”
Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.