6. THE NOUN : GENDER.

"GENDER"

Gender comes from a Latin word genus , which means kind or sort .

Suppose take an example :-

(1) Boy ---- Girl.

(2) Hero ---- Heroine.

What do you notice ?.

The first word of above two example is a male .
The second word of above two example is a female .
Therefore we conclude that :

A noun that denotes a male is said to be the Masculine Gender .

A noun that denotes a female is said to be the Feminine Gender .

A noun that denotes either a female or a male is said to be of the Common Gender ; as ,

Parent , child , friend , pupil , servant , enemy , cousin , infant , neighbour , person , student etc..

A noun that denotes a thing that is neither male nor female is said to be of Neutral Gender ; as ,

Book , pen , room , tree etc ..

Gender has nothing to do with the form of a noun , it is entirely a matter of sex or the absense of sex . Collective nouns , even when they denote living beings , are considered of the neutral gender . Young children and the lower animals are also referred to as of the neutral gender .Objects generally without life are sometimes spoken as if they are living beings.

For example:-

The Masculine Gender is often applied to objects which signifies strength and violence ; as ,

........ The sun sheds his beams on rich and poor alike .

The Feminine Gender is generally applied to objects which signifies beauty and gentleness ; as ,

....... The moon has hidden her face behind a cloud .

This type of usage is most common in the poetry ; as ,

A ship is always used as a she ; as ,
......... The ship lost all her boats in the storm .

::::::::::: Ways of forming Feminine of Nouns ::::::::::::::

There are generally three ways of forming the Feminine of Nouns :-

(1) By using a entirely different word ; as ,

.... Boy to Girl.
... Brother to Sister.
... Dog to bitch.
... Cock to hen.
... Husband to wife.
... King to queen.
... Papa to mamma ..... etc ....

(2) By adding a syllable ( -ess , -ine , -trix , -a , etc .) as ,

.... Author to authoress (-ess ).
... Host to hostess ( -ess ).
... Lion to lioness ( -ess ).
... Actor to actress ( -ess ).
... Hero to heroine ( -ine ).
... Administrator to administratrix ( -trix ).
... Executor to executrix ( -trix ).
... Sultan to sultana ( -a ).
... Signor to signora ( -a ).

(3) By placing a word before or after ; as ,

.... Bull-calf to cow-calf.
... Cock-sparrow to hen-sparrow.
... Grandfather to grandmother.
... Peacock to peahen.
... Milkman to milkmaid .... etc .....