Etymologically
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female

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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
  • 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)