female

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfiː.meɪl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English femele,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French femelle (“woman, female”),^[3][2] from Medieval Latin femella (“a female”),^[3][2] from Latin fēmella (“young female, girl”), a diminutive of fēmina (“woman”),^[3][4][2] literally “she who suckles”, from Proto-Indo-European *dhe(i)- (“to suck”).^[3][4] The spelling female, first recorded in 1373, is an alteration by false association with the unrelated male,^[2][5][4] which comes from Latin masculus.^[5] It is related to feminine.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun, a woman, or a human being of the sex that bears young: before 1333,^[2] the early 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Vulgar Latin the word was extended from young humans to the females of animals, and then to females generally.^[3] The adjective is from 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible,^[2][6] and of animals from 1388.^[6] In botany a female flower has a pistil and no stamens, from 1796,^[6] and in mechanics a female part has a socket into which a male part fits, from the 1660s.^[3] Kipling's 1911 poem gave the saying the female of the species is more deadly than the male.^[5][3] In Dorset dialect female was said to be a word “of doubtful odour”.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1333 – noun, a woman.^[2]
• 1373 – the spelling female.^[2]
• 1382 – adjective.^[2][6]
• 1660s – of sockets in tools.^[3]
• 1796 – of flowers, pistillate.^[6]
• 1911 – “The Female of the Species”.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of the sex that can bear young or produce eggs.
2. Typical of or made up of women or girls.
3. (botany) Of a plant or flower, having a pistil and producing fruit.
4. Of a part, having a hollow into which a matching male part fits.

Noun

1. A female person, animal or plant.
2. A woman or girl.

Word family

• femaleness
• antifemale
• unfemale
• female circumcision
• female genital mutilation
• female impersonator

Related words

• feminine
• feminism
• effeminate
• fetus
• fennel
• fecund
• male

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)