male

male, masculine, manly

1. Both male and masculine entered the language from Old French in the 14c and rapidly took on distinct roles. Male is used as an adjective and noun, contrasting with the unrelated word female, to designate the sex of humans, animals, and plants that can beget offspring by insemination or fertilization. Masculine is used only of humans and has two additional meanings: (1) denoting characteristics or qualities associated with men, and (2) contrasted with feminine and neuter, denoting a class of grammatical gender. Both words also have technical meanings in various domains. In broad terms male is used principally to indicate the sex of a person, animal or plant, whereas masculine is used of characteristics (once, and to some extent still) regarded as characteristic of men, especially physical strength, vigour, competitive assertiveness, etc. Manly (13c, originally referring to humans generally but now only to men) also has this meaning but is more positive and complimentary than masculine. As a noun, male does not carry the unfavourable implications of female, but is still best restricted to uses relating to the animal world. See female, feminine.

2. Two 20c uses of male, both largely promoted by the feminist movement, are in the terms male chauvinist (first recorded in 1970), meaning ‘a man who is prejudiced against women’, and male menopause (1949), meaning ‘a crisis of potency, confidence, etc., said to afflict men in middle life’.