: an individual of the sex that is typically capable of bearing young or producing eggs
2
: a pistillate plant
Did you know?
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.
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 menNoun She attended a school where there were more males than females. Females of this species weigh 8 to 10 pounds.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
The report confirmed Sarver made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female employees and other women and made inappropriate workplace physical conduct toward male employees. Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 16 Sep. 2022 In 2006, the young sea lion was transferred to the National Zoo, along with another female named Summer, who is still on exhibit. Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Sep. 2022 Hawley is part of the team that, in 2019, began to codify everything Brown-Forman is doing to support female employees, with goals set for 2030. Stephanie Cain, Fortune, 15 Sep. 2022 How can a novel populated by such (notably female) cruelty feel so expansively humanist? Chloe Schama, Vogue, 14 Sep. 2022 My band also happens to be all-female, which is empowering to me. A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 14 Sep. 2022 The writing and adopting of the Declaration of Independence is the subject, but now the cast of 22 is made up entirely of female, nonbinary and transgender actors. Peter Marks, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2022 Each of the subsequent unfolding subplots distracts from the initial fascination of Alithea and the Djinn’s male–female, white–black, New World–Old World, intellectual–sensual contrasts. Armond White, National Review, 7 Sep. 2022 That effectively forced local parties to choose parliamentary candidates from lists with a bigger proportion of female, Black and minority ethnic backgrounds.New York Times, 7 Sep. 2022
Noun
Last year, Craig, 54, spoke to Radio Times and shared his thoughts on a female 007 possibly following in his footsteps. Giovana Gelhoren, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2022 Halonen, who was elected president in 2000 and served two six-year terms, was a prime example of Finland’s female-friendly political environment. Michael Hunt, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2022 Honk for Jesus shares a lot of Tammy Faye's small-screen feel and sense for winky episodic comedy; like that movie too, it's held together by the tensile strength of the petite, bedazzled female at its center. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 2 Sep. 2022 Across all subjects, average female-student performance declined at a slightly higher rate than their male classmates. Alison Cross, Hartford Courant, 25 Aug. 2022 For example, by the end of 2021, our first/mid-level officials and managers were approximately 41.7% female and 30.6% non-White. Jennifer Maas, Variety, 24 Aug. 2022 Police went to the man’s apartment, but an uncooperative female answered and said the man wasn’t home and wasn’t home when the incident took place.cleveland, 19 Aug. 2022 According to owners, the growth and staying power of professional women's sports — the WNBA is in its 26th season — has played a role in the female-athletes-to-owners trend, too. Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY, 4 Aug. 2022 Her groundbreaking career and female-empowering music was recently chronicled in the Netflix documentary Not Just a Girl. Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 2 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, alteration of femel, femelle, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French femele, from Medieval Latin femella, from Latin, girl, diminutive of femina
First Known Use
Adjective
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)