What Is the Feminine Gender? (with Examples)

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Feminine Gender (in Grammar)

Feminine gender is one of three genders in English grammar. The three genders for nouns and pronouns are:

masculine
feminine
neuter

If the word does not denote something obviously masculine or feminine, then it is a neuter word.

Click on Two Feminine Nouns

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Feminine Pronouns

In the table below, the singular feminine pronouns are in the shaded row:

Gender	Pronoun	Possessive Determiner (a type of pronoun)	Possessive Pronoun
masculine pronouns	he Example: He is happy.	his Example: This is his car.	his Example: This is his.
feminine pronouns	she Example: She is happy.	her Example: This is her car.	hers Example: This is hers.
neuter pronouns	it Example: It is happy.	its Example: This is its bone.	its Example: This is its. (rare)

Feminine Nouns

Unless its meaning makes it obviously female (e.g., "girl," "queen," "sow") or male (e.g., "prince," "boar," "policeman"), a noun in English is neuter by default. Here are two noteworthy points related to gender:

Large machines. Large machines such as ships and trains, which - by default - are neuter, are sometimes affectionately given a female gender (i.e., referred to as "she" or "her").

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. She was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She was the largest ship afloat at the time she entered service.

Animals. An animal is referred to as "it." It is only referred to as "she" or "he" when the sex is known.

Why Should I Care about Feminine Gender?

Here are two noteworthy issues related to feminine gender.

(Issue 1) Choosing the right version of "blonde/blond."

The word "blond/blonde" changes depending on its gender.

"Blonde" is a noun meaning a fair-haired female.

The blonde just passed a package to the vendor. (for a girl)

"Blonde" is also an adjective used to describe a female (or females) with fair hair.

The blonde girl is likely to be voted in as the next club president. (for a girl)

"Blond," on the other hand, is a noun meaning a fair-haired male.

The blond is looking suspicious. (for a boy)

"Blond" is also an adjective used to describe anybody (regardless of their gender) with fair hair.

The blond girl and the blond boy make a nice blond couple.

(Issue 2) Using gender-neutral pronouns for people who do not identify themselves as either male or female.

Some people identify as non-binary; i.e. they do not identify as male or female. These people might ask you to use "they" (and of course "their," "them," "theirs," "themself") or just their name instead of a pronoun (e.g., "Sarah," "Sarah's," "Sarah's self") when talking about them.

Read more about using non-binary pronouns.

Key Points

Use "blonde" for women and "blond" for men.
Use "they" when talking about non-binary people.

A Video Summary

Here is 9-minute video summarizing grammatical gender in English.

Interactive Exercise

Here are three randomly selected questions from a larger exercise, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students.

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