gender
Definitions
The state of being male, female, or another identity; the social and cultural categories associated with sex
性别（社会文化层面的身份类别）
(grammar) A class of nouns (masculine, feminine, neuter) in some languages
（语法）性，词的阴阳中性
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedFrom Latin genus ('kind, type, class'), via Old French gendre. Gender literally meant just 'kind' — the same idea as genus and genre. Because the most basic kinds of people were male and female, the word narrowed to sex, and in modern use to identity categories. Under it all is still 'born as one type.'
Root gen still carries 140 more wordsWhy It Means This
Learners are often surprised that gender, genre, genus and general all share one root. The link is 'kind/type.' Gender started as a pure synonym of 'kind' (you can still find 'of every gender' meaning 'of every sort' in old texts) and only later specialized to sex and then to social identity. The 'sorting things by birth' logic is what unifies the whole family.
Common Collocations
- 1.gender equality性别平等
- 2.gender identity性别认同
- 3.gender role性别角色
- 4.gender gap性别差距
Example Sentences
- 1.
The company is working to close the gender pay gap.
- 2.
In French, every noun has a grammatical gender.
- 3.
The survey asked respondents to state their gender.