gender

¹ American  

[jen-der] / ˈdʒɛn dər /

noun

1. either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior.

   the feminine gender.

2. a similar category of human beings that is outside the male/female binary classification.

3. the concept or system of categories such as male and female: More and more people have a nonbinary understanding of gender.

   Gender is a factor in pay rates across industries.

   More and more people have a nonbinary understanding of gender.

4. Grammar.

   1. (in many languages) a set of classes that together include all nouns, membership in a particular class being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace, or otherwise refer to the noun, as, in English, the choice of he to replace the man, of she to replace the woman, of it to replace the table, of it or she to replace the ship. The number of genders in different languages varies from 2 to more than 20; often the classification correlates in part with sex or animateness. The most familiar sets of genders are of three classes (as masculine, feminine, and neuter in Latin and German) or of two (as common and neuter in Dutch, or masculine and feminine in French and Spanish).

   2. one class of such a set.

   3. such classes or sets collectively or in general.

   4. membership of a word or grammatical form, or an inflectional form showing membership, in such a class.

5. Archaic. kind, sort, or class.

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verb (used with object)

1. to attribute gender to, or to classify by gender: Usually when I wear my hair down people gender me as female.

   Gendering soaps seems a bit much—can't men and women use the same products?

   Usually when I wear my hair down people gender me as female.

gender ² American  

[jen-der] / ˈdʒɛn dər /

verb (used with or without object)

1. Archaic. to engender.

2. Obsolete. to breed.

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gender British  

/ ˈdʒɛndə /

noun

1. a set of two or more grammatical categories into which the nouns of certain languages are divided, sometimes but not necessarily corresponding to the sex of the referent when animate See also natural gender

2. any of the categories, such as masculine, feminine, neuter, or common, within such a set

3. informal the state of being male, female, or neuter

4. informal all the members of one sex

   the female gender

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gender Cultural  

1. A grammatical category indicating the sex, or lack of sex, of nouns and pronouns. The three genders are masculine, feminine, and neuter. He is a masculine pronoun; she is a feminine pronoun; it is a neuter pronoun. Nouns are classified by gender according to the gender of the pronoun that can substitute for them. In English, gender is directly indicated only by pronouns.

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Sensitive Note

It is possible to define gender as interchangeable with “sex,” indicating that the term can be used when differentiating male creatures from female ones biologically. However, the concept of gender, a word primarily applied to human beings, has additional connotations having to do with general behavior, social interactions, and most importantly, one's fundamental sense of self. People increasingly recognize that a complex spectrum between male and female exists not only mentally, psychologically, and behaviorally, but also anatomically—there have always been intersex people. The conflation of gender with sex, though historically common, is now often criticized because it is seen by some to be insensitive or dehumanizing. People who do not question their assigned gender are usually referred to as cisgender, or just cis— as in a cis male or a cis female. Using cis is a way to refer to these individuals without implying that cisgender people are the only norm. Those who don't identify with the gender assigned to them at birth are often referred to using the umbrella term transgender, though not everyone labeled in this way accepts the designation. The term transgender includes both binary trans people and those who are outside of the male–female binary in some way, including nonbinary and genderqueer people. After realizing their gender, many transgender people may change the way they dress, speak, or otherwise present themselves. Some may transition medically through surgery, hormone replacement therapy, and other procedures. Some may want to change the language people use to refer to them, including things like given name and pronouns as well as gender labels. This array of life experiences has resulted in a veritable explosion of new, or newly adapted, vocabulary.

Other Word Forms

• genderless adjective

Etymology

Origin of gender¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French gendre, genre, from Latin gener- (stem of genus ) “kind, sort”

Origin of gender²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English gendren, from Old French gendrer, from Latin generāre “to beget,” derivative of genus gender ¹, genus ( def. )

Explanation

People use the word gender to indicate your biological sex or your sense of being female, male, or a combination of both. Danica Patrick is someone who has broken many gender barriers by being a successful female race-car driver in a male-dominated sport. If you've learned French, Spanish, or Latin, you know these languages assign genders to nouns, such as masculine, feminine, or neuter. Besides this grammatical use, gender and sex are very often used as synonyms in everyday speech. However, while sex refers to biological differences between men and women, gender is much more complicated and changeable, influenced by society, culture, and an individual person's self-identity.

Example Sentences

They didn’t track representation based on gender, sexual orientation or Asian origin.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Alzheimer’s doesn’t affect men and women the same, progressing differently by gender, which could lead to differences in clinical care.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026

In one school I visited in Rochdale, they were starting a girls club in which they would discuss it all: from gender inequality, to domestic violence and body shaming, to periods, sexuality and friendship groups.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

When researchers compared results by gender, they found notable differences.

From Science Daily • Apr. 11, 2026

Maggie was trapped between society’s expectations for her gender, her profession, and her class.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock