female

English Online Dictionary. What means female‎? What does female mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English female, an alteration of Middle English femele, from Old French femele, femelle (“female”), from Medieval Latin fēmella (“a female”), from Latin fēmella (“a girl, a young female, a young woman”), diminutive of fēmina (“a woman”). The English spelling and pronunciation were remodelled under the influence of male, which is otherwise not etymologically related. Contrast woman, which is etymologically built on man (as in, “person”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfiː.meɪl/
• Rhymes: -iːmeɪl

Adjective

female (not generally comparable, comparative femaler or more female, superlative femalest or most female)

1. Belonging to the sex which typically produces eggs (ova), or to the gender which is typically associated with it. [from 14th c.]

   female authors, the leading male and female artists, a female bird cooing at a male

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:female.
2. Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare feminine, womanly.)

   stereotypically female pastimes, an insect with typically female coloration

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:female.
3. Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.

   the female chromosome;   estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, is produced by both females and males

4. (grammar, less common than 'feminine') Feminine; of the feminine grammatical gender.
5. (of bacteria) Lacking the F factor, and able to receive DNA from another bacterium which does have this factor (a male).
6. (figuratively) Having an internal socket, as in a connector or pipe fitting. [from 16th c.]

Synonyms

• womanly, feminine
• (figurative: of pipes, etc): socket

Coordinate terms

• male; androgynous; intersex; non-binary
• (grammar): see feminine

Derived terms

• (see below)

Translations

Noun

female (plural females)

1. One of the female (feminine) sex or gender.
   1. A human of the feminine sex.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:female

      Hyponyms: girl, woman; see also Thesaurus:girl, Thesaurus:woman
   2. An animal of the sex that produces eggs.
   3. (botany) A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organ capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization; a pistillate plant.
2. A bacterium which lacks the F factor, and is able to receive DNA from another bacterium which has that factor.
3. A female connector, pipe fitting, etc.

Usage notes

• Due to its inclusion of non-human animals, some, like Time magazine's Jay Newton-Small and former Jezebel contributor Kara Brown, find it dehumanizing and disparaging to refer to female humans as "female(s)" as a noun, especially in non-technical, informal contexts. Others, like Buzzfeed's Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton, have criticized it as being overly used for women compared to the use of "male(s)" for men. It is frequently used in police blotters, dispatches, reports, and legal, medical, or physiological documents to encompass girls and women.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ♀ (symbol for female)
• sex, gender, gender identity

References

Further reading

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Female”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.

Middle English

Adjective

female

1. Alternative form of femele

Noun

female

1. Alternative form of femele

Spanish

Verb

female

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of femar combined with le