Epicene. sb. /'epi:,si:n/ [< L epicœnus < Gk epikoinos 'common to many, promiscuous' < epi- 'on, at, beside' + koinos 'common'] 1. Of nouns: having one grammatical gender (i.e., masculine and feminine) but representing both biological sexes. 2. Of persons: having the characteristics of both sexes; effeminate, unmasculine. 3. Lacking the characteristics of either sex.

Quotations: 1. "The Agathyrsi are the most refined of men and especially given to wearing gold. Their intercourse with women is promiscuous, so that they may be consanguine with one another and, all being relations, not harbor jealousy or animosity toward one another. In the rest of their customs they are like the Thracians." [Herodotus. The Histories. 4.104.1. translated by A. D. Godley. The word 'promiscuous' is epikoinos in the original Greek.] 2. "Nor again shall I be in a hurry to regard it as a proof of real diligence, if he points out that there are real nouns of the kind called epicene by the Greeks, in which one gender implies both, or which in spite of being feminine or neuter in form indicate males or females respectively, as for instance Muræna or Glycerium." Quintillian. The Intitutio Oratio. 1.4.24. translated by H. E. Butler.]

The Epicene Pronouns covers the various failed attempts in English for a genderless pronominal system. See also the Gender-neutral Pronoun FAQ. Ben Jonson wrote a play called Epicene or The Silent Woman.

And before any charges of political correctness come in from the grammatically grumpy regarding the mapping of grammatical gender to biological sex, they would do well to consider that there are languages with more than the traditional three grammatical genders of Latin and Greek: e.g., Bantu languages on average have around 15 genders.