female
/ˈfiː.meɪl/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.00 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Belonging to the sex which typically produces eggs (ova), or to the gender which is typically associated with it.
adj
Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.
adj
Feminine; of the feminine grammatical gender.
adj
Lacking the F factor, and able to receive DNA from another bacterium which does have this factor (a male).
adj
Having an internal socket, as in a connector or pipe fitting.
Example Sentences
- "female authors, the leading male and female artists, a female bird cooing at a male"
- "Twice in her thirty-year career she held office in the blacksmiths' guild. Ms. [Fya] upper Bach was no fluke, either: legal and guild records from medieval Germany list other female blacksmiths, coppersmiths, tinsmiths, and pewterers. Some of these redoubtable women gained entry into the guild through "widow's rights"; others, however, made it on sheer mettle and muscle."
- "I turned to [gender-fluid] Alex. "Hey, are you female today? [...] The Skofnung Sword [...] can't be drawn in the presence of women.""
- "Some mentioned factional tensions and bullying within the party involving other female MSPs."
- "stereotypically female pastimes, an insect with typically female coloration"
- "A travelling shot of a harbour view near Sydney's White Bay moves into a domestic interior as a female voice says, 'There was nowhere else to live except alone.'"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-der. Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ Proto-Italic *θēmanā Proto-Italic *fēmanā Latin fēmina Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin fēmella Old French femelebor. Middle English femele Middle English female English female From Middle English female, an alteration of Middle English femele, from Old French femele, femelle (“female”), from Medieval Latin fēmella (“a female”), from Latin fēmella (“a girl, a young female, a young woman”), diminutive of fēmina (“a woman”). The English spelling and pronunciation were remodelled under the influence of male, which is otherwise not etymologically related. Contrast woman, which is etymologically built on man (as in, “person”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: female, femele, fēmella
Inflected Forms
femaler (comparative)
more female (comparative)
femalest (superlative)
most female (superlative)
females (plural)