LESSON XIV.
Which of the following words denote males, and which denote females?
| boy, | man, | uncle, | hero, | emperor, | ||
| girl, | woman, | aunt, | heroine, | empress. |
Sex is one of the two divisions of animals, male and female.
The distinction of sex is called gender.
A noun that denotes a male is of the masculine gender; as, father.
A noun that denotes a female is of the feminine gender; as, mother.
Some nouns are either masculine or feminine gender; as, friend, neighbor.
Nouns that denote things neither male nor female, have no gender; as, book, tree.
Gender is distinguished by different words; as,—
| Masculine. | Feminine. | |
| gentleman, | lady, | |
| husband, | wife, | |
| king, | queen, | |
| monk, | nun, | |
| nephew, | niece, | |
| sir, | madam, | |
| son, | daughter, | |
| uncle, | aunt, | |
| bachelor, | maid or spinster, | |
| drake, | duck, | |
| hart, | roe, | |
| ram, | ewe, | |
| stag, | hind, | |
| buck, | doe, | |
| earl, | countess, | |
| wizard, | witch. |
Gender is distinguished by different endings; as,—
| Masculine. | Feminine. | |
| heir, | heiress, | |
| baron, | baroness, | |
| count, | countess, | |
| prince, | princess, | |
| negro, | negress, | |
| actor, | actress, | |
| Jew, | Jewess, | |
| lion, | lioness, | |
| governor, | governess, | |
| abbot, | abbess, | |
| victor, | victress, | |
| marquis, | marchioness, | |
| peer, | peeress, | |
| host, | hostess, | |
| duke, | duchess, | |
| master, | mistress, | |
| deacon, | deaconess, | |
| poet, | poetess, | |
| executor, | executrix, | |
| hero, | heroine, | |
| czar, | czarina, | |
| sultan, | sultana, | |
| infante, | infanta, | |
| widower, | widow, | |
| bridegroom, | bride, | |
| fox, | vixen. |
Gender is sometimes distinguished by prefixing words; as,—
| Masculine. | Feminine. | |
| man-servant, | maid-servant, | |
| cock-sparrow, | hen-sparrow, | |
| he-goat, | she-goat. |
EXERCISE.
Select the gender-nouns in the following sentences, and give the gender of each:—
| 1. | Mary and her friend went for a sail on the lake. | |
| 2. | The hero of this story is a young boy. | |
| 3. | Great authors are seldom seen by the people. | |
| 4. | Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort her old age. | |
| 5. | He fled with his wife and child. | |
| 6. | My sister went home with her aunt. | |
| 7. | Both a prince and a poet were there. | |
| 8. | Little Effie shall go with me to-morrow to the green, | |
| And you’ll be there, too, mother, to see me made the Queen: | ||
| For the shepherd lads on every side ’ill come from far away, | ||
| And I’m to be Queen of the May, mother, I’m to be Queen of the May.—Tennyson. |