Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

female

Syllabification: (fe·male)
Pronunciation: /ˈfēˌmāl/

Translate female | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of female

adjective

  • of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes:a herd of female deer
  • relating to or characteristic of women or female animals:a female audience a female name
  • (of a plant or flower) having a pistil but no stamens.
  • (of parts of machinery, fittings, etc.) manufactured hollow so that a corresponding male part can be inserted.

noun

  • a female person, animal, or plant.

Derivatives

femaleness

noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French femelle, from Latin femella, diminutive of femina 'a woman'. The change in the ending was due to association with male, but the words male and female are not otherwise linked etymologically

female in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of female in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

leporine

/ ˈlɛpərʌɪn /
adjective
of or resembling a hare or hares …