gender

> gender
In the English language this usually refers to the natural distinctions of sex (or absence of sex) that exist, and nouns are classified according to these distinctions - masculine, feminine and neuter. Thus, "man", "boy", "king", "prince", "emperor", "duke", "heir", "son", "brother", "father", "nephew", "husband", "bridegroom", "widower", "hero", "cock", "drake", "fox" and "lion" are masculine nouns. Similarly, "girl", "woman", "queen", "princess", "empress", "duchess", "heiress", "daughter", "sister", "mother", "niece", "wife", "bride", "widow", "heroine", "hen", "duck", "vixen" and "lioness" are feminine nouns. Similarly, "table", "chair", "desk", "carpet", "window", "lamp", "car", "shop", "dress", "tie", "newspaper", "book", "building" and "town" are all neuter.
Some nouns in English can refer either to a man or a woman, unless the sex is indicated in the context. Such neutral nouns are sometimes said to have DUAL GENDER. Examples include "author", "singer", "poet", "sculptor", "proprietor", "teacher", "parent", "cousin", "adult" and "child". Some words in this category were formerly automatically assumed to be masculine and several of them had feminine forms, such as "authoress", "poetess", "sculptress" and "proprietrix". In modern times this was felt to be sexist and many of these feminine forms are now rarely used, for example, "authoress" and "poetess". However some, such as actress and waitress, are still in common use.
See ESS.
In many languages grammatical gender plays a major part. In French, for example, all nouns are divided into masculine and feminine, and there is no neuter classification. Masculine nouns are preceded by le (definite article). Thus "ceiling" is masculine (le plafond), "hat" is masculine (le chapeau) and "book" is masculine (le livre). Feminine nouns are preceded by la (definite article). Thus "door" is feminine (la porte), "dress" is feminine (la robe), and "window" is feminine (la fenêtre).
In German there are three grammatical genders - masculine, feminine and neuter. Masculine nouns are preceded by der (definite article) as der Stuhl (the chair); feminine nouns are preceded by die (definite article) as die Brcke (the bridge); neuter nouns are preceded by das, as das Brot (bread).
Grammatical gender in English is not relevant except in the third personal singular pronouns, as "he/him/his/himself", "she/her/hers/herself" and "it/it/its/itself". Traditionally "he", etc, was considered an acceptable pronoun not just for nouns of the masculine gender, but also for those of neutral or dual gender as well. Thus "Every student must check that he has registered for the exam" was considered acceptable, as was "Each passenger must be responsible for his own luggage". Nowadays such sentences are considered sexist. In order to avoid this, some people use the "he/she", "his/her", etc, convention, as in "Every employee must supply his/her own transport" and "Each candidate must hand in his/her application form now". People who feel this is clumsy sometimes prefer to be ungrammatical and use a plural pronoun, as in "Every writer was told to collect their manuscripts in person" and "Every pupil was told that they would have to be back in school by four o'clock". It is sometimes possible to avoid being both sexist and ungrammatical by rephrasing such sentences in the plural, as in "All pupils were told that they would have to be back in school by four o'clock".