gender
pronunciation
How to pronounce gender in British English:
UK [ˈdʒendə(r)]
How to pronounce gender in American English:
US [ˈdʒendər]
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- Noun:
- 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
- the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles
Word Origin
- gender (n.)
- c. 1300, "kind, sort, class," from Old French gendre, genre "kind, species; character; gender" (12c., Modern French genre), from stem of Latin genus (genitive generis) "race, stock, family; kind, rank, order; species," also "(male or female) sex," from PIE root *gene- (see genus). Also used in Latin to translate Aristotle's Greek grammatical term genos. The grammatical sense is attested in English from late 14c. The "male-or-female sex" sense is attested in English from early 15c. As sex (n.) took on erotic qualities in 20c., gender came to be the usual English word for "sex of a human being," in which use it was at first regarded as colloquial or humorous. Later often in feminist writing with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense first attested 1963. Gender-bender is from 1977, popularized from 1980, with reference to pop star David Bowie.
- gender (v.)
- "to bring forth," late 14c., from Old French gendrer, genrer "engender, beget, give birth to," from Latin generare "to engender, beget, produce" (see generation). Related: Gendered; gendering.
Example
- 1. You can 't always detect gender by physical evidence .
- 2. Breaking with traditional gender patterns is especially important when children are involved .
- 3. Yet gender discrimination is widespread .
- 4. The second looks at gender disparities .
- 5. Gender is another word for sex .