gender
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Related to gender: Gender roles
gender
In many other languages, especially the Romance languages (such as French, Spanish, and Italian), a large number of nouns are coded as being either feminine or masculine.
This used to be the case in Old English as well, but in modern English only certain nouns that describe a person who performs an action are inflected for gender. This is usually achieved by changing the end of the word to a feminine suffix, such as “-ess,” “-ine,” and “-trix.” Words are less commonly changed to specifically reflect masculine gender, but the few that do use the suffixes “-er” or “-or.”
gen·der
(jĕn′dər)n.
1. Grammar
a. A grammatical category, often designated as male, female, or neuter, used in the classification of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and, in some languages, verbs that may be arbitrary or based on characteristics such as sex or animacy and that determines agreement with or selection of modifiers, referents, or grammatical forms.
b. The fact of being classified as belonging to such a category: agreement in gender, number, and case.
2.
a. Either of the two divisions, designated female and male, by which most organisms are classified on the basis of their reproductive organs and functions; sex.
b. One's identity as female or male or as neither entirely female nor entirely male.
c. Females or males considered as a group: Students lined up with the genders in different lines.
tr.v. gen·dered, gen·der·ing, gen·ders Archaic
To engender.
[Middle English gendre, from Old French, kind, gender, from Latin genus, gener-; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]
gen′der·less adj.
Usage Note: Some people maintain that the word sex should be reserved for reference to the biological aspects of being male or female or to sexual activity, and that the word gender should be used only to refer to sociocultural roles. Accordingly, one would say The effectiveness of the treatment appears to depend on the sex of the patient and In society, gender roles are clearly defined. In some situations this distinction avoids ambiguity, as in gender research, which is clear in a way that sex research is not. The distinction can be problematic, however. Linguistically, there isn't any real difference between gender bias and sex bias, and it may seem contrived to insist that sex is incorrect in this instance.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
gender
(ˈdʒɛndə)n
1. (Grammar) a set of two or more grammatical categories into which the nouns of certain languages are divided, sometimes but not necessarily corresponding to the sex of the referent when animate. See also natural gender
2. (Grammar) any of the categories, such as masculine, feminine, neuter, or common, within such a set
3. informal the state of being male, female, or neuter
4. informal all the members of one sex: the female gender.
[C14: from Old French gendre, from Latin genus kind]
ˈgenderless adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
gen•der1
(ˈdʒɛn dər)n.
1.
a. a set of grammatical categories applied to nouns, shown by the form of the noun itself or the choice of words that modify, replace, or refer to it, often correlated in part with sex or animateness, as in the choice of he to replace the man,she to replace the woman, or it to replace the table, but sometimes based on arbitrary assignment without regard to the referent of the noun, as in French le livre (masculine) “the book” or German das Mädchen (neuter) “the girl.”
b. one of the categories in such a set, as masculine, feminine, neuter, or common.
c. membership of a word or grammatical form in such a category.
2.
a. sex: the feminine gender.
b. the societal or behavioral aspects of sexual identity: gender studies.
3. Archaic. kind, sort, or class.
[1300–50; < Middle French gen(d)re < Latin gener-, s. of genus kind, sort; compare genus]
gen′der•less, adj.
usage.: The use of gender in the sense “sex” (The author's gender should be irrelevant.) is over 600 years old. Although some people feel that gender should be reserved for grammatical category only, the “sex” sense of gender is now extremely common; sex itself is becoming increasingly rare except when referring to copulation.
gen•der2
(ˈdʒɛn dər)v.t., v.i.
1. Archaic. to engender.
2. Obs. to breed.
[1300–50; Middle English < Middle French gendrer < Latin generāre to beget; see generate]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Noun | 1. | gender - a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European languages it is usually based on sex or animateness grammatical category, syntactic category - (grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties feminine - a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to females or to objects classified as female masculine - a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to males or to objects classified as male neuter - a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to inanimate objects (neither masculine nor feminine) |
| 2. | gender - the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles; "she didn't want to know the sex of the foetus" physiological property - a property having to do with the functioning of the body maleness, masculinity - the properties characteristic of the male sex femaleness, feminineness - the properties characteristic of the female sex |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
gender
noun sex Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
geslag
pohlavírod
køn
sukupuolisynnyttäätuottaasaada aikaansuku
rod
kyn
性性別
성性
genus
dzimte
rod
spol
polrodполрод
genuskönkönsroll
เพศ
giới tính
gender
[ˈdʒendəʳ]Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
gender
[ˈdʒɛndər]Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
gender
n → Geschlecht nt; what gender is this word? → welches Geschlecht hat dieses Wort?; the feminine/masculine/neuter gender → das Femininum/Maskulinum/Neutrum
gender
:gender-bender
gender changer
n (Comput) → Stecker-Stecker-Adapter m; → Buchse-Buchse-Adapter m
gender issues
pl → geschlechtsspezifische Fragen pl
gender politics
pl → Geschlechterpolitik f
gender reassignment
n (form) → Geschlechtsumwandlung f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
gender
(ˈdʒendə) noun any of a number of classes into which nouns and pronouns can be divided (eg masculine, feminine, neuter).
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
gender
→ جِنْس pohlaví køn Geschlecht γένος género sukupuoli genre rod sesso 性 성 geslacht kjønn płeć género, gênero пол kön เพศ cinsiyet giới tính 性别Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
gen·der
n. género, denominación del sexo masculino o femenino;
___ identity → identidad de ___;
___ role → representación de ___.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
gender
n género, sexo; — identity identidad f de géneroEnglish-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.