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"If you don't care about science enough to be interested in it on its own, you shouldn't try to write hard science fiction."
- Frederik Pohl

Gynoid  
  A female android.  

This term was not coined by science fiction writers.

In science fiction, the word "gynoid" has come to mean a female robot, although Jones’ book seems to refer to her as having a biological origin. As far as I know, this is the first time it was used in a science fiction story; however, see the discussion below.

A glistening finger tapped Cho on the shoulder: "There is no doubt about it. This is a metagenetic android."

"No I'm not!" said Cho. And the whole room was startled to hear her speak.

"I'm sorry. Gynoid, I meant of course. That's all I wanted to know, anyway. We were pretty sure, but we thought we'd like to confirm it. It's very satisfying. A very satisfying turn of events."

Derveet stared at what was Cho: awe greater than horror, greater than any feeling...

...The best of them came from a special pleasure city in the east. They were called "wayang legong" - angel dolls. They were not machines but perfect lifelong companions. They were invulnerable to fire, disease, any kind of weapon; invulnerable to time..."

Technovelgy from Divine Endurance, by Gwyneth Jones.
Published by Allen and Unwin in 1984
Additional resources -

This word seems to have been backformed from android, which uses the Greek root for "man" and literally means "man-shaped".

The word "gynoid" is not currently used in medicine, but was in use in the first half of the twentieth century, if not earlier. For example, a medical textbook might distinguish between the form taken by "android obesity" as opposed to "gynoid obesity".

Compare to robotess from R.U.R. by Karel Capek.

Compare to the manufactured wife from A Wife Manufactured to Order (1895) by Alice W. Fuller, the psychophonic nurse from The Psychophonic Nurse (1928) by David H. Keller, the teleoperated robot surrogate from The Robot and the Lady (1938) by Manly Wade Wellman, the mechanical bride from The Mechanical Bride (1954) by Fritz Leiber, the maid-robot from The Midas Plague (1954) by Frederik Pohl and the Nanny from Nanny (1955) by Philip K. Dick.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Divine Endurance
  More Ideas and Technology by Gwyneth Jones
  Tech news articles related to Divine Endurance
  Tech news articles related to works by Gwyneth Jones

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