Word: female Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-der. Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-m̥h₁n-éh₂ Proto-Italic *θēmanā Proto-Italic *fēmanā Latin fēmina Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin fēmella Old French femelebor. Middle English femele Middle English female English female From Middle English female, an alteration of Middle English femele, from Old French femele, femelle (“female”), from Medieval Latin fēmella (“a female”), from Latin fēmella (“a girl, a young female, a young woman”), diminutive of fēmina (“a woman”). The English spelling and pronunciation were remodelled under the influence of male, which is otherwise not etymologically related. Contrast woman, which is etymologically built on man (as in, “person”). Pronunciation: /ˈfiː.meɪl/ 1. Belonging to the sex which typically produces eggs (ova), or to the gender which is typically associated with it. Labels: not-comparable, usually Example: female authors, the leading male and female artists, a female bird cooing at a male Example: Twice in her thirty-year career she held office in the blacksmiths' guild. Ms. [Fya] upper Bach was no fluke, either: legal and guild records from medieval Germany list other female blacksmiths, coppersmiths, tinsmiths, and pewterers. Some of these redoubtable women gained entry into the guild through "widow's rights"; others, however, made it on sheer mettle and muscle. 2. Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare feminine, womanly.) Labels: not-comparable, usually Example: stereotypically female pastimes, an insect with typically female coloration Example: A travelling shot of a harbour view near Sydney's White Bay moves into a domestic interior as a female voice says, 'There was nowhere else to live except alone.' 3. Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex. Labels: not-comparable, usually Example: the female chromosome Example: estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, is produced by both females and males 4. Feminine; of the feminine grammatical gender. Labels: feminine, form-of, not-comparable, usually Example: 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. Example: If you are describing a female noun, you must make the adjective feminine by adding an 'e'. If you describe a male noun, you add an 'er'. For neutral nouns you add an 'es'. 5. Lacking the F factor, and able to receive DNA from another bacterium which does have this factor (a male). Labels: not-comparable, usually Example: In this process, one bacterium designated the male bacterium transfers its DNA into the female bacterium. Bacteria are determined to be male or female by a small piece of DNA, called F-plasmid, or sex factor. Bacteria with this small piece of DNA are labeled as males, and bacteria that do not have this factor are considered females. 6. Having an internal socket, as in a connector or pipe fitting. Labels: figuratively, not-comparable, usually Example: A ground-joint union is made in three separate pieces and is used for joining two pipes. It consists of two machined pieces with female pipe threads, which are screwed on the pipes to be united, and a threaded collar which holds the two pieces of the union together.