gender

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /ʤɛndə/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /ʤɛndɚ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gen‧der

Noun

Singular gender

Plural genders

1. (countable & uncountable) A living thing's gender is its sex: male (man, boy), female (woman, girl), both, or neither.

   There are gender differences in everything from physical size to play style.

   The effects vary considerably according to such factors as class, race and gender.

2. (countable & uncountable); (grammar) Gender is a way of grouping nouns in some languages, for example: masculine, feminine & neuter.

   In French, the gender affects everything from the choice of le or la to the adjective endings.

3. (psychology) Someone's gender is whether they behave like a boy or girl. This is called masculine or feminine, and not the same as male or female.

   His gender was not traditional, he was a very feminine boy.

4. The gender of a cord, cable, or plug tells how it connects. If it has a hole (a socket) that can be plugged into, it is female. If it plugs into a hole, it is male.

   The microphone was the wrong gender for the computer's sound card.

Related words

• genre