Feminine and Masculine Words in English
by IDP IELTS — August 6th, 2020
What is “gender” in language?
Approximately one-fourth of the world’s languages use gender.
Technically speaking, gender in languages is just one way to divide names into classes or categories. The name is the part of the language that names a person, place, thing, idea, action, or quality. It is important to know the difference between grammatical gender and natural gender concepts. Natural gender is basically the biological gender of a living thing. Grammatical gender is one way of classifying names. However, it may not always match natural gender.
In some languages, the grammatical gender may contain more than masculine and feminine. Some languages have words with “neutral” gender. Some languages can also use different genders for living and inanimate beings.
Masculine and feminine words are easier in English grammar.
Are there masculine and feminine words in English?
There is no distinction between masculine and feminine in English. However, sometimes referring to people or animals, words may differ according to gender.
List of masculine and feminine words in English
Masculine |
Feminine |
Gender neutral |
| man | woman | person |
| father | mother | parent |
| boy | girl | child |
| uncle | aunt | |
| husband | wife | spouse |
| actor | actress | |
| prince | princess | |
| waiter | waitress | server |
| rooster | hen | chicken |
| stallion | mare | horse |
Mispronounced Brand Names
It’s an everyday situation we often encounter: mispronounce a word in a group of people that most of them know the correct pronunciation. In such a situation, you may face different reactions; some unintentionally condescending, some aggressively condescending, and or some tell you the correct pronunciation. But they can still be laughing inside. The only…
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