Female Reference

Female Reference

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fe·male

| \ ˈfē-ˌmāl

\

1 a (1)

: of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs

In a field of milkweed, I watched a female monarch butterfly deposit a single egg on the underside of a leaf. — Tom Tyning A few months later, she became the highest paid female performer on the Great White Way. — Susannah McCorkle

(2)
botany

: having or producing only pistils or pistillate flowers

a female holly female inflorescences

b

: having a gender identity that is the opposite of male

c

: made up of usually adult members of the female sex : consisting of females

the female workforce

d

: characteristic of girls, women, or the female sex : exhibiting femaleness

composed for female voices a female name

e

: designed for or typically used by girls or women

a female glove

f

: engaged in or exercised by girls or women

female suffrage female political power

g

: having a quality (such as small size or delicacy of sound) sometimes associated with the female sex

female castanets

2
of a rhyme

: having an unstressed final syllable : feminine sense 4b

a female rhyme

3

: designed with a hollow or groove into which a corresponding male part fits

the female coupling of a hose

1 a

: a female person : a woman or a girl

b

: an individual of the sex that is typically capable of bearing young or producing eggs

2

: a pistillate plant

Adjective

Most extension cords have a male plug on one end and a female plug on the other.

female standards of housekeeping imposed by the women at the vacation cottage weren't especially popular with the men

Noun

She attended a school where there were more males than females .

Females of this species weigh 8 to 10 pounds.

The news may be shocking even to those who know of the events of 2019, when multiple allegations of harassment against the singer first emerged from nine female artists.

—

Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post , 18 Aug. 2022

Professional athletes have been endorsing brands since the early 1900s, and the first Black female athlete to endorse a consumer brand was gold medal Olympian, Alice Coachman, signed by Coca-Cola in 1952.

—

Solo Ceesay, Rolling Stone , 16 Aug. 2022

And all of this is even before the considerations of being a pregnant female athlete.

—

Stephanie Emma Pfeffer, Peoplemag , 12 Aug. 2022

Felix, who captured 30 track and field medals over her Olympic and world championship career, can certainly relate to the demands of being a female athlete and a mother.

—

Paul Newberry, ajc , 12 Aug. 2022

That’s how much prize money Williams has pocketed during her career, and as Forbes calculated, that’s more than twice as much as any other female athlete in history.

—

Terence Moore, Forbes , 10 Aug. 2022

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Holmes is described as a white female with brown hair and green eyes.

—

Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al , 17 Aug. 2022

Rare underwater footage shows affectionate moments between the shy dolphins, such as a female and her calf.

—

Ashley Strickland, CNN , 13 Aug. 2022

From starring in countless award-winning TV shows and movies to founding a female -focused production company and book club, the Legally Blonde star has done it all.

—

Staff Author Published, Peoplemag , 12 Aug. 2022

After recordings of the calls were leaked in February, even Gascón questioned whether Tubbs truly identified as female .

—

James Queally, Los Angeles Times , 5 Aug. 2022

It’s a perfect storm of implicit bias in clinical settings, a dearth of women’s health research, and a lack of funding for female -focused solutions.

—

Laine Bruzek, Fortune , 10 June 2022

When The Wing was founded in 2016, the female -focused social club's brand of bubblegum pink, bite-size feminism was a novelty for women across the globe.

—

Ana Escalante, Glamour , 19 May 2022

Generational trauma and the importance of female -focused storytelling are two threads that repeatedly resurface in our conversation.

—

ELLE , 11 Mar. 2022

While the decor is female -focused, Abedi said the property aims to create a safe environment for guests across all genders, races and sexualities.

—

Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY , 22 Feb. 2022

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Merriam-Webster

fe·male

| \ ˈfē-ˌmāl

\

1

: of, relating to, or being the sex that bears young or lays eggs

2

: having a pistil but no stamens

a female plant

3

: of or characteristic of women or girls

1

: a woman or a girl

2

: a person or animal that can bear young or lay eggs

3

: a plant with a pistil but no stamens

fe·male

| \ ˈfē-ˌmāl

\

: an individual that bears young or produces eggs as distinguished from one that produces sperm

especially

: a woman or girl as distinguished from a man or boy

: of, relating to, or being the sex that bears young or produces eggs

stationery
stationary

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Definition of female (Entry 2 of 2)
In the 14th century, female appeared in English with such spellings as femel, femelle, and female. The word comes from the Latin femella, meaning “young woman, girl,” which in turn is based on femina, meaning “woman.” In English, the similarity in form and sound between the words female and male led people to use only the female spelling. This closeness also led to the belief that female comes from or is somehow related to male. However, apart from the influence of male on the modern spelling of female, there is no link between the origins of the two words.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'female.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback .

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Middle English, alteration of femel, femelle , from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French femele , from Medieval Latin femella , from Latin, girl, diminutive of femina
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“Female.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/female. Accessed 2 Sep. 2022.
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Unit III: Institutions, Culture, and Structures

Unit IV: Gender and Work in the Global Economy

Unit I: An Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies: Grounding Theoretical Frameworks and Concepts
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Crenshaw, Kimberlé W. 1991. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43(6): 1241–1299.
Decker, Julie Sondra. 2014. The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality . Carrel Books.
Farinas, Caley and Creigh Farinas. 2015. “ 5 Reasons Why We Police Disabled People’s Language (And Why We Need to Stop)” Everyday Feminism Magazine . http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/policing-disabled-peoples-identity/ . Accessed 15 May, 2017.
Ferber, A. 2009. “Keeping Sex in Bounds: Sexuality and the (De)Construction of Race and Gender.” Pp. 136-142 in Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: The New Basics , edited by Abby L. Ferber, Kimberly Holcomb and Tre Wentling. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gordon, L. E. and S. A. Abbott. 2002 “A Social Constructionist Essential Guide to Sex.” In Robert Heasley and Betsy Crane, Eds., Sexual Lives: Theories and Realities of Human Sexualities . New York, McGraw-Hill.
Greenberg, J. 2002. “Definitional Dilemmas: Male or Female? Black or White? The Law’s Failure, to Recognize Intersexuals and Multiracials.” Pp.102-126 in Gender Nonconformity, Race and Sexuality: Charting the Connections , edited by T. Lester. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Grewal, Inderpal and Caren Kaplan. 2001. “Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality,” GLQ 7(4): 663-679.
Hesse-Biber, S.N. and D. Leckenby. 2004. “How Feminists Practice Social Research.” Pp. 209-226 in Feminist Perspectives on Social Research . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hill Collins, Patricia. 2005. Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender, and the New Racism . New York: Routledge.
Institute for Women’s Policy Research Compilation of U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. 2016. “Historical Income Tables: Table P-38. Full-Time, Year Round Workers by Median Earnings and Sex: 1987 to 2015. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/incomepoverty/historical-income-people.html . Accessed 30 March, 2017.
Katz, J. N. 1995. The Invention of Heterosexuality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Klesse, Christian. 2006. “Polyamory and its ‘others’: Contesting the terms of non- monogamy.” Sexualities , 9 (5): 565-583.
Liebowitz, Cara. 2015. “I am Disabled: On Identity-First Versus People-First Language.” The Body is Not an Apology . https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/i-am-disabled-on-identity-first-versus-people-first-language/ . Accessed 15 May, 2017.
Logsdon, Ann. 2016. “Use Person First Language to Describe People With Disabilities.” Very Well . https://www.verywell.com/focus-on-the-person-first-is-good-etiquette-2161897 . Accessed 15 May, 2017.
Mohanty, Chandra. 2003. “’Under Western Eyes’ Revisited: Feminist Solidarity Through Anticapitalist Struggles,” Signs 28(2): 499-535.
Morgan, Robin. 1996. “Introduction – Planetary Feminism: The Politics of the 21st Century.” Pp. 1-37 in Sisterhood is Global: The International Women’s Movement Anthology, edited by Morgan. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY.
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. 1986. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. Psychology Press.
Puar, Jasbir K. 2012. “’I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess’: Becoming-Intersectional in Assemblage Theory.” PhiloSOPHIA , 2 (1): 49-66.
Ramirez, Tanisha Love and Zeba Blay. 2017. “Why People Are Using the Term ‘Latinx.’” The Huffington Post . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-people-are-using-the-term-latinx_us_57753328e4b0cc0fa136a159 . Accessed 15 May, 2017.
Revilla, Anita Tijerina. 2004. “Muxerista Pedagogy: Raza Womyn Teaching Social Justice Through Student Activism.” The High School Journal , 87(4): 87-88.
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Safire, William. 1988. “On Language; People of Color.” The New York
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