NPK

Gender Nouns

A noun is an importantpart of speech. It is a word that names a person, place or thing. The word 'thing' here refers to anything that we can think of. It can be an animal, an event, an object or an idea. A noun is a "naming" word.
Nouns are classified into various types. Gender is a classification of nouns. There are four types of gender nouns in English. Masculine gender nouns, Feminine gender nouns, Common-gender nouns and Neuter gender nouns. Let us discuss each of them in detail.

Learn All About Nouns and Types of Nouns with Examples

Different Types of Pronouns in English

Masculine and Feminine gender nouns
Masculine nouns are words for men and boys, and male animals. Feminine nouns are words for women and girls, and female animals. Masculine nouns belong to the masculine gender and feminine nouns belong to the feminine gender.

Masculine	Feminine
bride	bridegroom
rooster	hen
lion	lioness
king	queen
boy	girl
man	woman
prince	princess
steward	stewardess
waiter	waitress

Here are some examples of masculine and feminine gender nouns for people.

Masculine	Feminine
actor	actress
brother	sister
emperor	empress
father	mother
gentleman	lady
grandfather	grandmother
grandson	granddaughter
headmaster	headmistress
master	mistress
nephew	niece
prince	princess
son	daughter
uncle	aunt
wizard	witch
sir	madam

Here are some examples of masculine and feminine gender nouns for male and female animals.

Animal	Male	Female
chicken	rooster	hen
cattle	bull	cow
deer	buck	doe
donkey	jack	jenny
duck	drake	duck
fox	fox	vixen
goose	gander	goose
horse	stallion	mare
lion	lion	lioness
sheep	ram	ewe
tiger	tiger	tigress

*Nouns that end in -ess and -ress often belong to the feminine gender. For example:
actress stewardess
tigress lioness
waitress princess

Common-gender nouns

Many nouns are used for both males and females. These nouns are called common-gender nouns.

Here are some examples of common-gender nouns.

doctors	dancers
scientists	accountants
hairdressers	artists
parents	managers
designers	pupils
engineers	singers
lawyers	teachers

Neuter gender nouns

Words for things that are neither male nor female are called neuter nouns.

Here are some examples of neuter nouns.

bench	leaves
mirror	fire
waterfall	ball
forest	building
gymnasium	broom
playground	cake
rock	computer
sky	card
socks	floor
wind	sun

Words for plants and flowers also come under neuter gender.

Collective nouns even when they denote living beings also come under neuter gender.

Objects of nature are often looked upon as persons and are personified as males or females. In that case natural elements known for beauty, gentleness and grace are seen as belonging to feminine gender. Nouns such as ship and river also known as feminine gender.

Elements known for power, violence or cruelty belong to masculine gender. Examples: Sun, Ocean, Seasons like Summer and Winter, Storm, Death, etc.

Changing genders

How do we change the genders of nouns? There are various ways of changing genders.

➤ By using an entirely different word for the phenomena or the concept.

Masculine	Feminine
brother	sister
husband	wife
father	mother
horse	mare
bull	cow

➤ By adding a syllable -ess

(where there is a vowel before the ending of a word, we remove that vowel for a better flow and -ess at the end)

Masculine	Feminine
heir	heiress
author	authoress
count	countess
poet	poetess
host	hostess
lion	lioness
steward	stewardess
negro	negress
tiger	tigress
prince	princess
hunter	huntress
actor	actress

➤ By adding a syllable -ine, -ina, a, -trix

Masculine	Feminine
Hero	Heroine
Sultan	Sultana
Czar	Czarina
	Ballerina
	Dominatrix

➤ By placing a word before or after

Masculine	Feminine
Grand father	Grand mother
Brother in law	Sister in law
Land lord	Land lady
peacock	peahen

There might still be other forms or variations in the form of changing genders. Keep an eye out for observing the change of form when you are reading magazines and newspapers and watching movies etc.

Here are some sentence examples of gender nouns.

➤ The host and hostess welcomed their guests.

➤ The steward and the stewardess look after the passengers on the plane.

➤ My uncle and aunt lived in Delhi.

➤ The king and the queen had two children, a boy and a girl. The prince was eight and the princess was five.

➤ Ladies and gentleman, welcome to our party this evening.

➤ Akbar was a great king.

➤ Teena is cheerful girl.

➤ There is a lioness in the forest.

➤ The hero in this film is very popular.

I hope this explanation will help you to understand gender nouns better

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Gender of Nouns - Masculine, Feminine, Common gender and Neuter Nouns