GENDER

In our day to day talking and writing we generally use different terms to denote the exact sex of the nouns. That words or terms that signify the sex of the nouns is called GENDER in Grammar. Gender happens to be Four in kinds such as:

1) Masculine: that signifies Male sex.

2) Feminine: that signifies Female sex.

3) Common: that signifies both sexes.

4) Neuter: That signifies no sex and generally of inanimate beings.

Nouns can be classified according to Genders.

Masculine and Feminine Gender	Proper Nouns, Common Nouns.
Common Gender:	Common Nouns.
Neuter Gender	All

In order to transform masculine Nouns into Feminine Nouns, generally we use Three kinds of methods.

1) By a change of word: Like nephew, niece.

2) By adding a word: Like He-goat, she-goat, land-lord or land-lady.

3) By adding ~Ess to the Masculine: prince, princess.

Presently, with vigorous feminine movements and their obvious participation in the day to day affair the language has also evolved accordingly. Now many feminine and masculine terms have become outdated and in their place many unisexual words have evolved to denote both sexes. Terms like doctresses, teacheress, chairman and many others have lost their currency. Principal, Headmaster, Doctor, Teacher and Chairperson now denote both sexes. The use of he/she type has also lost currency. President, Prime minister, Governor, Author have become unisexual terms and we have shunned using terms like Governess in the meanwhile. Anyway Gender is a grammatical Concept still in use to parse sex from a plethora of terms. Let’s see some traditional lists.

A) By a change of word:

Masculine	Feminine
Bachelor	Maid/Spinster
Boar	Sow
Boy	Girl
Brother	Sister
Buck	Doe
Bull (Ox)	Cow
Bullock (Steer)	Heifer
Cock	Hen
Colt	Filly
Dog	Bitch
Drone	Bee
Drake	Duck
Earl	Countess
Father	Mother
Friar (Monk)	Nun
Gander	Goose
Gentleman	Lady
Hart	Roe
Horse (Stallion)	Mare
Husband	Wife
King	Queen
Lord	Lady
Man	Woman
Milter (Fish)	Spawner
Nephew	Niece
Papa	Mama
Ram (Wether)	Ewe
Sir	Madam (Dame)
Sire	Dam
Sloven	Slut
Son	Daughter
Stag	Hind
Swain	Nymph
Uncle	Aunt
Wizard	Witch

B) By adding a word:

Masculine	Feminine
Boy friend	Girl friend (Friend is unisexual)
Boy servant	servant girl (servant is unisexual)
Grand father	Grand Mother
She goat	He goat
Male nurse	Female nurse (Nurse is a feminine term)
Man servant	Maid servant
Milkman	Milk woman
Salesman	Saleswoman (Salesgirl is also used)
Washer man	Washerwoman

N: B: Generally, the result of such word changing happens to be compound terms and we hyphenate the two terms. The hyphen can be left but where a question of pronunciation arises, we use hyphen.

C) By adding ~ess to the Masculine Noun.

Masculine	Feminine
Author	Authoress
Baron	Baroness
Count	Countess
Giant	Giantess
Headmaster	Headmistress
Heir	Heiress
Host	Hostess
Jew	Jewess
Lion	Lioness
Patron	Patroness
Peer	Peeress
Poet	Poetess
Priest	Priestess
Prince	Princess
Prophet	Prophetess
Shepherd	Shepherdess
Viscount	Viscountess

Terms like Authoress, Poetess, hostess, heiress and priestess have lost their currency.

C-1) If there happens to be a vowel letter in the last part of the masculine Noun, generally the vowel is left out and ~ess is added to the remaining part.

Masculine	Feminine
Actor	Actress
Benefactor	Benefactress
Conductor	Conductress
Director	Directress
Enchanter	Enchantress
Hunter	Huntress
Instructor	Instructress
Negro	Negress
Porter	Portress
Songster	Songtress
Tempter	Temptress
Traitor	Traitress
Votary	Votaress

Look at the list one can find many of the terms outdated and even they cannot be found in the dictionary.

C-2) By changing in a disorderly fashion and adding ~ess:

Masculine	Feminine
Abbot	Abbess
Duke	Duchess
Emperor	Empress
Governor	Governess
Lad	lass
Master (Teacher)	Mistress
Master (Boy)	Miss
Mr.	Mrs.
Murderer	Murderess
Sorcerer	Sorceress

D) Without any rules:

Masculine	Feminine
Parvenu	Parvenue
Groom	Bride
Fiancé	Fiancée
Widower	Widow

E) Foreign Feminine:

Masculine	Feminine
Administrator	Administratrix
Beau	Belle
Czar	Czarina
Executor	Executrix
Hero	Heroine
Prosecutor	Prosecutrix
Raja	Rani
Signor	Signora
Sultan	Sultana
Testator	Testatrix

Two words Songstress and seamstress are called double feminines as both words have got the ~er and ~ess together.

Some Common Gender Nouns:

Baby: male or female	Monarch: King or queen
Bird: Cock or hen	Mouse: Male or female
Calf: Bullock or Heifer	Orphan: Male or female
Cat: male or female	Parent: Father or mother
Child: Son or daughter	Peafowl: Peacock or peahen
Cousin: Male or female	Person: man or woman
Deer: Stag or hind	Pig: Boar or sow
Elephant: male or female	Pupil: Boy or girl
Enemy: Male or female	Rat: male or female
Flirt: man or woman	Servant: man or woman
Foal: Cock or hen	Sheep: Ram or ewe
Friend: male or female	Student: male or female

ü Nouns related to Trades or Professions or Ranks generally regarded as Common Nouns. Governor, Prime minister, President, Secretary, Clerk, Typist, Stenographer, Teacher etc.

ü Those Nouns that signify Mightiness, Magnanimity generally regarded as Masculine Gender. Sun, May, summer, Winter, Ocean, Sea, Thunder, Wind, Death, War, Majesty.

ü Those Nouns that signify beauty, softness, suaveness generally regarded as Feminine gender. Name of country, Name of City, Earth, Spring, Hope, Virtue, Truth, Justice, Mercy, Charity, peace, Pride, Fame etc.

ü There are some nouns that have no Masculine nouns: Dowager, dowdy, hussy, matron, minx, prostitute, prude, slattern, shrew, termagant, and virago. However, presently a word Gigolo is being used for male prostitute though the word has not gained wide acceptance.

ü There are some nouns that have no feminine gender. Cad, clown, Joker, dude, fop, ruffian, villain, goonda.

ü In writing generally poetries, personification is used to give life to an inanimate being and in that case a common gender happens to be feminine or masculine.

ü Sometime when no gender related word is given the possessive pronouns like her, his or pronoun like he or she leads to the identification of the gender.

‘As the Sun goes into the west, entire New York rises to life with its crawling and neon lights. She seems to be bathed in milky ray as not a single part of her remains dark. She rises to life with rock and rap around reverberating her nook and corner.’

Look at the small paragraph that is a fictional version about the night life of New York. In the sentence New York City is described as feminine gender.

N.B: The above list is only a traditional one and many words have lost their identity with the passage of time. It is for a reference purpose the blogger has included those words.