Alternatives to Nubile

[jollytiddlywink]

I suppose that the advice board is the right place for this (almost) entirely frivolous query.

I've had a thought rolling around my head for a little while now; namely, that I can't think of a male equivalent of the adjective "nubile". I'm not looking for a male synonym for marriageable, but rather for a male term for the more modern usage of attractive.

Going with a simple dictionary definition would be dull, so shall we plough on to connotative meanings, let the ideas gestate and see what turns up?

[Hennessy]

Doesn't it have something to do with a nymph, ie an idealised woman for men?

So when looking for the male equivalent you should be looking for something that describes the features women find most attractive in their perfect man?

There's an old joke about this:

There was a department store where woman could go to find husbands. On the first floor you could pick yourself up a tall man, but most women wanted to see what was on the next floor. On the second floor there were tall, handsome men, but most women wanted to see what was on the third floor. On the third floor were tall, handsome men with jobs in the professions and big fat paychecks in their top pocket. Most women wanted to see what was on the fourth floor, but once they got there they saw only a sign, which congratulated them and read:

"By progressing to this floor you've proved one historically accurate fact: Women are never happy with what they've got!"

By contrast across the street was a department store for men to find wives. On the first floor were women with big breasts. Nobody knew what was on the second floor.

[jfdm]

would it not be adonis...named after the young lover of Persephone and Aphrodite, who when killed by a boar was decreed by Zeus to spend the summer with Aphrodite and the winter in hell with Persephone.