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Questions tagged [feminine]

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What do we use ‘Ms.’ or ‘Mrs.’ when we write about a person whose marital status we don’t know? [duplicate]

Also, What if we have a general idea about the the marital status of a person. Especially, in the case of ‘Mrs.’, if we seem to have a good idea about the marital status of a woman, can we write ‘Mrs.’...
Ridam Sharma's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
5k views

Is there a female or gender neutral equivalent for the verb to sire?

Is there a good equivalent for to sire I could use for a woman who mothered a child? Obviously other than to mother itself.
Grazowski's user avatar
-2 votes
2 answers
177 views

The Grim Reaper, death itself/herself/himself? [closed]

I want to write a sentence about the Grim Reaper (symbolism for death). I have this sentence - The commander winced, almost if he thought Death herself came to collect him and Mary. Somewhere I ...
Sves100's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why do lion, tiger, panther, and leopard have female forms (lioness, tigress, pantheress, leopardess), but jaguar, puma, cheetah, and cougar don't?

Lion, tiger, panther, and leopard have female forms: lioness, tigress, pantheress, leopardess, but jaguar, puma, cheetah, and cougar don't. Jagress? Pumess? Cheetess? Cougress? Those aren't words. Is ...
SegNerd's user avatar
  • 456
0 votes
0 answers
128 views

Is the -ie suffix commonly associated with femininity?

Is it valid to assume that the -ie suffix is commonly associated with femininity? Say, we take a word like owl and add the suffix, so we get owlie. Would a person whose native language is English be ...
Platon Makovsky's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
191 views

Pair like man/woman but clearly for sex not gender [closed]

If I want to distinguish social (or linguistic) gender and biological sex in a text, is there any polar pair of terms that clearly refers to organisms with a specific sex and not (also) to persons ...
Crissov's user avatar
  • 951
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Lavatory — US terms used in the 1950s

I am trying to find out what would be natural terms to refer to the lavatory in the US in the 1950s. I am specifically interested in how a woman who was a teenager at that time in a poor working class ...
David's user avatar
  • 13k
7 votes
3 answers
1k views

Do there exist male names that derive from female names in English?

I've seen a lot of female names that are simply derivatives of male names, mostly of biblical origin: Michaela, Michelle from Michael, Michel Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Jane, Jean from John, Jean ...
Vun-Hugh Vaw's user avatar
  • 5,561
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

When I'm referencing a undefined person, when should I use "she" or "he"? [duplicate]

This is something I realized in some text I read (books and articles), I don't identify it when speaking to people. When a pronoun is used replacing an undefined person sometimes "he" is used (I would ...
Jp_'s user avatar
  • 101
4 votes
0 answers
2k views

Is there one word that means female car enthusiast? [closed]

There are words like gear head, speedophile, car nut etc. that are all gender neutral, however, I am creating a support group or a common interest linkup for women who have a passion for cars. I am ...
mooreclicks's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
765 views

What's the appropiate pronoun for a program named after a woman? [closed]

In a technical document introducing an operating system named after a famous woman, I have to refer to the OS itself. I've consistently used "it/its" but some sentences sound a little weird. Is it ...
Giacomo Tesio's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
16 views

Genders for arbitrary occupations [duplicate]

Let's say I have a sentence similar to When a scientist publishes results, she must be careful to not enter the incorrect data. However, I am confused as to what I should use in place of the "she"...
MarkusWillson's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
147 views

What is the future for the Word *"Womyn"*? [closed]

The Word "womyn" has an interesting and debated history. It has become ever more pertinent since it's creation. My question is: Does "womyn" have a future?
Grace Palmer's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
9k views

Is "take a leak" considered only masculine or is it okay if women use it too?

And if it can also be used by women, I still feel vulgar using it.
user112422's user avatar
5 votes
6 answers
4k views

"Was it a girl?" or "Was that a girl?"

Here's a conversation. "I saw a salesperson there" "Was it a girl?" Is it OK to use "it" when you refer to the salesperson? Or should you use "that" instead ...
ivanhoescott's user avatar
  • 1,511
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is "woman" really interchangable with "female" as an adjective?

I listen to BBC Radio 4 a fair bit. They pretty much always use "woman" as opposed to "female" - like "a woman pilot". To me this just sounds completely wrong, and most stuff I can find online about ...
Robin Winslow's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
3k views

Female equivalent for "wet dreams"? [closed]

As I understand, the term wet dreams applies only to masculine gender? Then, unless it's unisex in nature, is there a specific term applicable to feminine gender?
Lola Tink's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
38k views

Female equivalent of "bachelor"? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What is the word for an unmarried female? What is the word for an unmarried female? The above closed question is unanswered as bachelorette implies both unmarried and divorced/...
Aadishri's user avatar
  • 123
2 votes
4 answers
31k views

Origin of 'fairer sex'

I've seen the term 'the fairer sex' being used in a number of areas to refer to females. How did they get that title? What does 'fairer' refer to in this case?
Playmaker's user avatar
  • 149
1 vote
0 answers
101 views

When to use the feminine form when referring to a person? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Tendency of using pronouns 'she/her' when talking about a random person I was never interested in grammar and English in school. Now that I am older, I am finding it ...
cbmeeks's user avatar
  • 119
3 votes
1 answer
526 views

Which words of foreign origin kept a distinctive feminine?

The feminine of confidant is confidante, probably due to the French origin of the word (confident, whose feminine is confidente). I wonder which other words of foreign origin commonly used in English ...