Gender-Specific Nouns

Legends say that the famous Dracula was not a Count, but actually was a Countess! Shocking? Here we will look at gender-specific nouns like Count/Countess!

intermediate
"Gender-Specific Nouns" in English Grammar

What Are Gender Specific Nouns?

There are three different genders in English. Feminine refers to a girl, masculine refers to a boy and neuter refers to one which is not categorized in any of these two groups.

Masculine Nouns

Nouns that are used to name a male person or animal are called masculine nouns.

  • man
  • brother
  • son
  • king
  • rooster
  • bull
  • lion

Feminine Nouns

Nouns that are used to name a female person or animal are called feminine nouns.

  • woman
  • girl
  • daughter
  • queen
  • hen
  • cow
  • lioness

In the English language, feminine nouns are created in some ways:

  • By creating a whole different word;

boy/girl

sir/madam

king/queen

  • By adding -ess to the end of some words;

lion/lioness

actor/actress

  • By omitting the last vowel of a masculine noun and then adding -ess;

waiter/waitress

mister/mistress

  • By putting some letters or words before or after a masculine noun.

hero/heroine

man/woman

Neuter Nouns

Nouns that are used to name a person or animal that can be either a male or a female are called neuter nouns (or common gender nouns).

  • parent
  • child
  • cousin
  • doctor
  • chicken
  • dog
  • snake

Tip!

If you do not know whether a noun is a masculine or feminine, you should regard it as a neuter. For example 'my doctor' can be a man or a woman. Or 'her chicken' could be either a rooster or a hen.

Remember that in English, nouns are considered neuter unless they are referring to a male or female person or animal.

Gender Specific Pronouns and Determiners

The English language has gender-specific personal pronouns and determiners in the third-person singular.

  1. The masculine pronouns: he, him, himself, his
  2. The feminine pronouns: she, hers, herself, her
  3. The neuter pronouns: it, its, itself

It is important to know that the gender of a noun affects the pronouns we use with it as well.

Masculine gender: The groom took his bride to the dance floor so he can dance with his wife.

'Groom' is a masculine noun, 'his' is a masculine possessive determiner and 'he' is a masculine pronoun.

Feminine gender: The queen loved her country, but she hated her people.

'Queen' is a feminine noun, 'her' is a feminine possessive determiner and 'she' is a feminine pronoun.

Neuter gender: My cat's sleeps in its box when it feels sleepy.

'Cat' is a neuter noun, 'its' is a neuter possessive determiner and 'it' is a neuter pronoun.

Gender Specific Nouns

Words that are always masculine or feminine are called gender specific nouns.

Duke/Duchess

witch/wizard

Warning

When a word like 'doctor' can refer to a man or a woman, we cannot use the neuter pronouns or possessive determiners. In that case, we can use a plural pronoun. This is the most acceptable way of talking about a neuter noun referring to a person.

Ask your doctor if they want to try a different treatment.

Review

Nouns are divided into three groups based on their genders:

masculine feminine neuter
nouns that are used to name a male nouns that are used to name a female nouns that can be either a male or a female
man, king, bull, lion queen, daughter hen, cow, cousin, doctor chicken, dog

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