From Middle English female, an alteration of Middle English femele, from Old French femele, femelle ("female"), from Medieval Latin fēmella, from Latin fēmella, diminutive of fēmina ("a woman").

• IPA: /ˈfiː.meɪl/

female (not comparable)

1. Belonging to the sex which typically produces eggs (ova), or to the gender which is typically associated with it. [from 14th c.]

   female authors, the leading male and female artists, a female bird cooing at a male, intersex female patients, a trans female vlogger

2. Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare feminine, womanly.)

   stereotypically female pastimes, an insect with typically female coloration

   • 1987, Don't Shoot[,] Darling!: Women's Independent Filmmaking in Australia, page 350:

     A travelling shot of a harbour view near Sydney's White Bay moves into a domestic interior as a female voice says, 'There was nowhere else to live except alone.'

3. Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.

   the female chromosome;   estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, is produced by both females and males

4. (grammar, less common than 'feminine') Feminine; of the feminine grammatical gender.
   • 2012, Naomi McIlwraith, Kiyâm: Poems, →ISBN, page 43:

     The teacher's voice inflects the pulse of nêhiyawêwin as he teaches us. He says a prayer in the first class. Nouns, we learn, have a gender. In French, nouns are male or female, but in Cree, nouns are living or non-living, animate or inanimate.

   • 2012, Sinéad Leleu, Michaela Greck-Ismair, German Pen Pals Made Easy KS3:

     If you are describing a female noun, you must make the adjective feminine by adding an 'e'. If you describe a male noun, you add an 'er'. For neutral nouns you add an 'es'.

5. (of bacteria) Lacking the Fertility factor (bacteria), and able to receive DNA from another bacterium which does have this factor (a male).
6. (figuratively) Having an internal socket, as in a connector or pipe fitting. [from 16th c.]

• womanly, feminine
• socket

• French: femelle (animal), féminin (human)
• German: weiblich
• Italian: femminile
• Portuguese: fêmeo (1, 3), feminino (1, 2), mulheril, femeal, feminal, feminil, femíneo
• Russian: же́нский
• Spanish: femenino, hembra

• French: femelle
• Spanish: hembra

female (plural females)

1. One of the female (feminine) sex or gender.
   1. A human of the feminine sex.

      Synonyms: Thesaurus:female

      Hyponyms: girl, woman; see also Thesaurus:girl, Thesaurus:woman

      • 1896, John Brown, Twenty-five Years a Parson in the Wild West, page 57:

        It would be years sometimes ere he saw the face of a female, and when he did, that face would not be overangelic.

   2. An animal of the sex that produces eggs.
   3. (botany) A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organ capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization; a pistillate plant.
2. A bacterium which lacks the Fertility factor (bacteria), and is able to receive DNA from another bacterium which has that factor.
3. A female connector, pipe fitting, etc.

• French: femelle (animal; not used of humans)
• German: Weib, Weibchen (animal)
• Italian: femmina
• Portuguese: fêmea
• Russian: са́мка
• Spanish: hembra, fembra, fémina

• German: Weibchen
• Russian: са́мка
• Spanish: hembra, fembra