Male
Pronunciation
- UK enPR: mÄl, IPA: /meɪl/
- Rhymes: -eɪl
- Homophones: mail
Origin
From Middle English male, borrowed from Old French masle, malle (Modern French mâle), from Latin masculus ("masculine, a male"), diminutive of mÄs ("male, masculine").
Full definition of male
Adjective
male
- Belonging to the sex which typically has testes, which in humans and most other mammals is typically the one which has XY chromosomes. from 14th c.
- 1969, Human afflictions and chromosomal aberrations, page 245:On the one hand, the observation of Shah et al. (1961) of male pseudohermaphroditism with XX karyotype and intra-abdominal testicles. Only the skin was studied so that a possibility of mosaicism cannot be dismissed. Two other XX male subjects (Court Brown et al., 1964) raise a similar problem.
- 1995, Nancy Condee, Soviet Hieroglyphics: Visual Culture in Late Twentieth-century Russia, page 113:The masked woman's lips do not move, but her voice is heard again, "And then, awakened by a daring kiss..."Behind the mask, the woman's eyes flicker open as a male voice is heard off-screen, ...
- Belonging to the masculine (social) gender.
- Pertaining to or associated with men, or male animals; masculine. from 16th c.
- 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, page 289:In the powder rooms of the world's great hotels, when male lesbians meet they show each other their wedding rings and burst out laughing.
- 2009 December 11, The Guardian:"While No Doubt are avid fans of the Rolling Stones and even have performed in concerts with them, the Character Manipulation Feature results in an unauthorised performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes," the band's lawyers alleged.
- (biology) Inherently characteristic of the male of a species. from 17th c.
- 2009 September 11, The Guardian:"It's very complex area," said Bowen-Simpkins, a consultant gynaecologist. "The male hormone is what gives bulk to muscles and bones so they are at an advantage."
- (grammar, less common than 'masculine') Masculine; of the masculine grammatical gender.
- 2012, Naomi McIlwraith, Kiyâm: Poems (ISBN 1926836693), page 43:The teacher's voice inflects the pulse of nêhiyawêwin as he teaches us. He says a prayer in the first class. Nouns, we learn, have a gender. In French, nouns are male or female, but in Cree, nouns are living or non-living, animate or inanimate.
- (figuratively) Of instruments or tools: designed to fit into or penetrate a "female" counterpart, as in a connector or pipe fitting. from 16th c.
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Noun
male
(plural males)- One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
- A human member of the masculine sex or gender.
- 2008, Linda Goldman, Coming Out, Coming in: Nurturing the Well-being and Inclusion of Gay Youth in Mainstream Society (ISBN 0415958245), page 27:... a biologically female person who identifies as a male.
- 2013, Emery & Rimoin's Principles and Practice of Medical Genetics (ISBN 0123838355), chapter 88, page 6:Among 46,XX males not having genital ambiguity, 80% show SRY as noted.
- An animal of the sex that has testes.
- A plant of the masculine sex.