Masculine

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈmæskjÊŠlɪn/, /ˈmæskjÉ™lɪn/
• US IPA: /ˈmæskjuːlɪn/, /ˈmæskjÉ™lɪn/
• AusE IPA: /ˈmæskjÉ™lÉ™n/

Alternative forms

• abbreviation, grammar: m.

Origin

From Old French masculin, from Latin masculīnus, diminutive of masculus ("male, manly"), itself a diminutive of mās ("male").

Full definition of masculine

Adjective

1. Of or pertaining to the male gender; manly.
2. Of or pertaining to the male sex; biologically male, not female.
• Geoffrey Chaucer:Thy masculine children, that is to say, thy sons.
3. Belonging to males; typically used by males.“John”, “Paul”, and “Jake” are masculine names.
4. Having the qualities stereotypically associated with men: virile, aggressive, not effeminate.
• Henry Hallam:That lady, after her husband's death, held the reins with a masculine energy.
• Thomas Fuller:... a masculine church.
5. (grammar) Of, pertaining or belonging to the male grammatical gender, in languages that have sex-based gender distinctions.
1. (of a noun) Being of the masculine class, or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner.The noun Student is masculine in German.
2. (of some other parts of speech) Being inflected in agreement with the masculine noun.German uses the masculine of the definite article, der, with Student.

Synonyms

• (of the male sex) male
• (having qualities stereotypical of the male gender) manly, virile

Antonyms

• (of the male sex) female, womanly
• (having qualities stereotypical of the male gender) emasculated, unmanly, epicene and effeminate
• (grammar) feminine

Derived terms

• masculinely
• masculineness
• masculinity
• masculinization
• demasculinization
• emasculate

Noun

1. (grammar) The masculine gender.
• 2009, Carlos Quiles, Fernando López-Menchero, A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, Second Edition, The masculine functions as the negative term in the opposition, i.e. when the gender is not defined, the masculine is used.
2. (grammar) A word of the masculine gender.
• 1905, George Theodore Dippold, A German grammar for high schools and colleges, As to the class to which the masculines of the strong declension belong, we repeat that ...
3. That which is masculine.
• 2004, Leonora Leet, The Universal Kabbalah, These forces would also seem to reflect the gender distinction that can be made with respect to the divine, the feminine associated with the divine as immanent within the finite and the masculine with the divine transcendence and the infinite.
4. (rare, possibly obsolete) A man.
• 1868, The Ladies' repository: Volumes 39-40, I think women, at least those who do their own work, would live very simply in that respect, if there were none of the masculines to feed.

Anagrams

• calumnies
• manicules