gynoid n.

Strictly speaking, an android should be an artificial device with the appearance of a male human being. One with the appearance of a female human being would be a ‘gynoid’, from the Greek word ‘gynos’ meaning ‘woman’. However, I have never seen the word ‘gynoid’ used for any artificial device of human appearance. ‘Android’ is used for artificial devices that mimic either sex—or, for that matter, that are neuter.

I am doing a series of photo stories…in the comic book format for Heavy Metal, to appear this summer. We are using a number of naked ladies (it’s an R-rated magazine) and one of these is a very voluptuous female of the very opposite gender—Kitten Natividad, star of several Russ Meyer movies. She will be playing an android…except, thanks to Isaac, she’ll be a gynoid.

‘This is a meta-genetic android.’ ‘No I’m not,’ said Cho. And the whole room was startled to hear her speak. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Gynoid, I meant of course.’

You’re currently in possession of one of my machines, a Model D gynoid, and I want it back. Now.

Auguste Villiers de l’lsle Adam in his novel L’Eve Future (Tomorrow’s Eve) may have employed phonography as the basis for a gynoid that would retain feminine beauty while eliminating the noise he found in women’s speech and refusal to reproduce.

There’s Actroid, a mannequinesque gynoid who wows corporate guests with her dynamic facial expressions and cheeky conversation skills (ask her how much she weighs, and she’ll tell you what she can bench-press).

The book’s jackets bemused me. The UK version depicts a shapely, shiny gynoid with a human hand reaching out to caress it just below its shapely, shiny breast.