gender

gender

gender¹ [jen′dər]

n.

[ME < OFr gendre, with unhistoric -d- < L genus (gen. generis), descent, origin, transl. Gr genos, race, class, sex: see GENUS]

1. Gram.

a) the formal classification by which nouns are grouped and inflected, or changed in form, so as to reflect certain syntactic relationships: pronouns, modifiers, and verbs may also be so inflected: although gender is not a formal feature of English, some nouns and the third person singular pronouns are distinguished according to sex or the lack of sex (Ex.: man or he, masculine gender; woman or she, feminine gender; door or it, neuter gender): in most Indo-European languages, as well as in many others, gender is not necessarily correlated with sex

b) any one of such groupings, or an inflectional form showing membership in such a group

2. the fact or condition of being a male or a female human being, esp. with regard to how this affects or determines a person's self-image, social status, goals, etc.

gender² [jen′dər]

vt., vi.

archaic var. of

ENGENDER