*gwen-

1620s, "womanish" (of a man); 1650s, "having two sexes, being both male and female," from Latin androgynus, from Greek androgynos "hermaphrodite, male and female in one; womanish man;" as an adjective (of baths) "common to men and women," from andros, genitive of anēr "male" (from PIE root *ner- (2) "man") + gynē "woman" (from PIE root *gwen- "woman"). Related: Androgynal (1640s).

in Irish folklore, a type of female fairy believed to foretell deaths by singing in a mournful, unearthly voice, 1771, from phonetic spelling of Irish bean sidhe "female of the Elves," from bean "woman" (from PIE root *gwen- "woman") + Irish sidhe (Gaelic sith) "fairy" or sid "fairy mound" (from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit"). Sidhe sometimes is confused with sithe, genitive of sith "peace."