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English Grammar - Noun – Gender

 

English Grammar

Noun – Gender

 

All living beings are of either the male or the female sex. ‘Noun-Gender’ tells us about the sex of the noun. In grammar, nouns have four genders:

Masculine gender

Feminine gender

Common gender

Neuter gender

 

1.               Masculine gender: Masculine gender refers to a male character or a male member of a species.

Examples:

Man, lion, hero, boy, king, horse, actor, etc.

 

2.               Feminine gender: Feminine gender refers to a female member of a species.

Examples:

Woman, lioness, heroine, girl, mare, niece, empress, etc.

 

3.               Common gender: Common gender refers to a member of species which can be a male or a female.

Examples:

Child, student, friend, applicant, candidate, servant, member, etc.

 

4.               Neuter gender: Neuter gender refers to a member of a species which is neither a male nor a female. It means, nouns referring to lifeless objects are called neuter nouns.

Examples:

Chair, table, tree, star, mountain, street, book, car, school, paper, pencil, computer, etc.

 

Ways of forming the feminine of Noun

There are three ways of forming the Feminine of Nouns –

(i)            By using an entirely different name:

 

Bachelor - spinster

Bachelor - maid

Boar - sow

Boy - girl

Brother - sister

Buck - doe

Bull - cow

Bull - ox

Bullock - heifer

Cock - hen

Colt - filly

Dog - bitch

Drake - duck

Drone - bee

Earl - countess

Father - mother

Friar - monk

Friar - nun

Gander - goose

Gentleman - lady

Hart - hind

Horse - mare

Husband - wife

King - queen

Lord - lady

Man - woman

Nephew - niece

Papa - mamma

Ram - ewe

Sir - madam

Son - daughter

Stag - hind

Swain - nymph

Uncle - aunt

Wizard - witch

 

(ii)         By adding ‘ess’ to the Masculine noun

 

-    without any change in the form of the Masculine:

 

Author - authoress

Baron - baroness

Count - countess

Giant - giantess

God - goddess

Heir - heiress

Host - hostess

Jew - Jewess

Lion - lioness

Manager - manageress

Mayor - mayoress

Patron - patroness

Peer - peeress

Poet - poetess

Priest - priestess

Prince - princess

Prior - prioress

Prophet - prophetess

Shepherd - shepherdess

Viscount - viscountess

 

-    By adding ‘ess’ and omitting the vowel of the last syllable of the Masculine

 

Actor - actress

Benefactor - benefactress

Conductor - conductress

Director - directress

Enchanter - enchantress

Founder - foundress

Hunter - huntress

Inspector - inspectress

Instructor - instructress

Negro - negress

Porter - portress

Preceptor - preceptress

Songster - songstress

Tempter - temptress

Tiger - tigress

Traitor - traitress

Votary - votaress

Waiter – waitress

 

-    By adding ‘ess’ to the Masculine in a different way

 

Abbot - abbess

Duke - duchess

Master - Miss

Mr. - Mrs.

Emperor - empress

Governor - governess

Lad - lass

Master - mistress

Marquis - Marchioness

Marquess - Marchioness

Murderer - murderess

Sorcerer – sorceress

 

(iii)      By adding a word to the Masculine Nouns (by adding prefixes and suffixes to the Masculine nouns).

 

-    by adding or changing the prefix.

 

Bull-calf - cow-calf

Buck-rabbit - doe-rabbit

Cock-sparrow - hen-sparrow

He-goat - she-goat

Jack-ass - she-ass

Jack-ass - jenny-ass

Man-servant - maid-servant

 

-    By adding or changing the suffix.

 

Grand-father - grand-mother

Great-uncle - great-aunt

Land-lord - land-lady

Pea-cock - pea-hen

Dairy-man - dairy-maid

Washer-man - washer-woman

 

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