Masculines. Nouns signifying males are masculines; as, fear a man, righ a king, sagart a priest, tarbh a bull, cu a dog.
Many nouns, signifying the young of animals of either Sex, are masculine, even when the individual objects they denote are mentioned as being of the female Sex; as, laogh a calf, isean a gosling, uan a lamb, &c.[[30]].
Diminutives in an; as, rothan a little wheel, dealgan a little pin, &c.
Derivatives in as, which are, for the most part, abstract nouns; as, cairdeas friendship, naimhdeas enmity, ciuineas calmness, breitheamhnas judgment, ceartas justice, maitheas goodness, &c.
Derivatives in air, ach, iche, which are, for the most part, agents; as, cealgair a deceiver, sealgair a huntsman, dorsair a door-keeper, marcach a rider, maraiche a sailor, coisiche a foot traveller, &c.
Names of such kinds of trees as are natives of Scotland; as, darach oak, giuthas fir, uimhseann ash.
Most polysyllables whereof the last vowel is broad, are masculine.
Feminines. Nouns signifying females are feminine; as, bean a woman, mathair a mother, bo a cow, &c. Except bainionnach or boirionnach a female, mart a cow, capull a horse or mare, but commonly a mare, which are masculine, and caileann or cailinn a damsel, masculine or feminine.[[31]] Mark, vi. 28.
Some nouns denoting a species are feminine, even when the individual spoken of is characterised as a male; as, gabhar fhirionn, a he-goat. Psal. l. 9.