male

pronunciation

How to pronounce male in British English: UK [meɪl] word uk audio image

How to pronounce male in American English: US [meɪl] word us audio image

Noun:

an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova)
a person who belongs to the sex that cannot have babies
Adjective:

being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that perform the fertilizing function in generation
for or composed of men or boys
characteristic of a man

Word Origin

male: male: [14] The Latin word for ‘male’ was masculus (from which of course English gets masculine [14]). It passed into Old French as masle, which later became male – hence English male. The Spanish descendant of masculus is macho, which means ‘virile’ as well as simply ‘male’, and has given English macho [20] and the derivative machismo [20]. Another close relative is probably mallard, which seems to mean etymologically ‘male bird’. Female, incidentally, despite its similarity, is not etymologically related to male, although the two have converged formally owing to their semantic closeness.=> macho, mallard, masculine

male (n.): late 14c., "male human being; male fish or land animal," from Old French masle (adj.) "masculine, male, adult," also used as a noun (12c., Modern French mâle), from Latin masculus "masculine, male, worthy of a man" (source also of Provençal mascle, Spanish macho, Italian maschio), diminutive of mas (genitive maris) "male person or animal, male."

male (adj.): late 14c., from Old French male, masle "male, masculine; a male" (see male (n.)). Mechanical sense of "part of an instrument that penetrates another part" is from 1660s.

adj.

adj.