Male

How to spell male

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce male

What does male mean?

1. adjectiveOf or relating to the sex that produces sperm or pollen, rather than eggs.
2. nounA person or animal of the sex that produces sperm or pollen.

Male in a sentence

• adjective

  The clinic reported a sharp rise in male patients this year.

• noun

  The vet confirmed that the kitten was a male.

• adjective

  The vet confirmed that the kitten was male and about eight weeks old.

• noun

  Each male in the herd competes for territory during the season.

Where does male come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin masculus, meaning 'masculine' or 'manly', which was itself a small affectionate form of mas, the Latin noun for 'a male'. The word passed into Old French as masle, where the middle consonants softened and dropped, and Middle English borrowed it around the 1300s in spellings such as 'masle' and 'male'. Over time the spelling settled on the simple four letters we use today, even though the related word 'masculine' kept the older, fuller stem with its 's' and 'c'. It is worth noting that 'male' the sex term and 'mail' the post are complete strangers etymologically; the postal word descends from an old word for a travelling bag, so the matching sound is pure coincidence. Keeping that history in mind helps explain why the spelling ends in a silent 'e' rather than the 'ai' of its homophone.

How the word is built

• male (from Latin masculus 'masculine', via Old French masle); a single root word with no separable affixes

Words that sound like male

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• mail: Letters, parcels, and other items sent and delivered through the postal system.