n.
- Grammar a class (usually masculine, feminine, common, or neuter) into which nouns and pronouns are placed in some languages, distinguished by a particular inflection.
▸the property of belonging to such a class.
- the state of being male or female (chiefly in cultural or social contexts).
▸the members of one or other sex:
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differences between the genders.
Derivative
Usage
Although the words gender and sex both have the sense ‘the state of being male or female’, they are typically used in different ways: sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender tends to refer to cultural or social ones.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. gendre (mod. genre), based on L. genus ‘birth, family, nation’.
