Eunuch

[yoo-nuh k] /ˈyu nək/

noun
1.
a castrated man, especially one formerly employed by Oriental rulers as a harem guard or palace official.
/ˈjuːnək/
noun
1.
a man who has been castrated, esp (formerly) for some office such as a guard in a harem
2.
(informal) an ineffective man: a political eunuch
n.

late 14c., from Middle French eunuque and directly from Latin eunuchus, from Greek eunoukhos “castrated man,” originally “guard of the bedchamber or harem,” from euno-, comb. form of eune “bed,” of unknown origin, + -okhos, from stem of ekhein “to have, hold” (see scheme (n.)).

The Greek and Latin forms of the word were used to translate Hebrew saris, which sometimes meant merely “palace official,” in Septuagint and Vulgate, probably without an intended comment on the qualities of bureaucrats.

Eunuches is he þat is i-gilded, and suche were somtyme i-made wardeynes of ladyes in Egipt. [John of Trevisa, translation of Higdon’s Polychronicon, 1387]

eunuch eu·nuch (yōō’nək)
n.
A man or boy whose testes have been removed or have never developed.

literally bed-keeper or chamberlain, and not necessarily in all cases one who was mutilated, although the practice of employing such mutilated persons in Oriental courts was common (2 Kings 9:32; Esther 2:3). The law of Moses excluded them from the congregation (Deut. 23:1). They were common also among the Greeks and Romans. It is said that even to-day there are some in Rome who are employed in singing soprano in the Sistine Chapel. Three classes of eunuchs are mentioned in Matt. 19:12.