GENDER

a distinction made in grammar between words to indicate a difference of sex in the objects denoted by these words. As a general rule in the English language this grammatical distinction agrees with the natural distinction known as sex. Thus names denoting the male sex are masculine G., those denoting the female sex feminine G., and those denoting inanimate objects are neuter G., that is, neither masculine nor feminine. These are cases of natural G., that is to say, the sex and G. agree. This rule is departed from, however, sometimes when inanimate things are personified, as when a ship or engine is made feminine, and the sun and time are made masculine. These are cases of grammatical G., sex and G. being different. In Old English and also in Latin, German, and Greek, this grammatical G. is much more common, many inanimate objects being either masculine or feminine G., while in modern French and other romance languages the neuter G. does not exist.