Male and Female Are Not Related Words
Male describes the sex producing sperm. The matching word female arrived by a different route entirely.
Male describes the sex that produces small mobile gametes. *Female* is not built from it: the word came from Latin *femella*, a young woman, and was originally spelled *femelle* in English. It was reshaped to match *male* by analogy in the 1300s, so the resemblance is a later tidying rather than a shared origin. Latin *masculus*, the source of *male*, is a diminutive of *mas*, a man, and also gives *masculine*.
- Of the sperm-producing sex. *A male bird.*
- A man or boy. *A male.*
- Female — an unrelated word. *Female.*
- Masculine — the same root. *Masculine.*
- Latin — *masculus*. *The root.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | male | Male. |
| Noun | male | A male. |
| Plural | males | Males. |
| Related | masculine | Masculine. |
| Latin | masculus | Male. |
- The male has brighter plumage.Biology.
- Femelle was the older spelling.History.
- Masculus means male.Etymology.
Words reshaped by analogy
- Female — from *femelle*, reshaped to match male
- Belfry — from a word unrelated to bells, reshaped anyway
- Bridegroom — the second element originally meant a man, not a groom
- Crayfish — from French *écrevisse*, nothing to do with fish
- Folk etymology reshapes words to look explicable
Old French *masle*, from Latin *masculus*, a diminutive of *mas*, a man.
Are male and female related?
No. Female comes from Latin femella and was spelled femelle in English until it was reshaped to match male in the 1300s.
What is folk etymology?
The reshaping of an unfamiliar word to resemble a familiar one, as with crayfish, which contains no fish.