gender

gender — noun

IPA/ˈdʒendə(r)/
KK[dʒˈɛndɚ]IPA/ˈdʒendər/
  • gendersingular
  • gendersplural

1. the groups into which a society classifies people based on shared cultural trait

1.nounB1
Definition

the groups into which a society classifies people based on shared cultural traits, behaviors, or identities — for example, those commonly connected with men, women, or non‑binary individuals.

Example

The school held a workshop on gender equality and respect for all students.

collocation: gender equality

In many countries, traditional gender roles are changing as men and women share household tasks.

collocation: gender roles

Common collocations
  • gender equality
  • gender roles
  • gender stereotypes
  • gender identity
  • gender gap
  • gender norms
Synonyms
  • sex

    often confused with gender; 'sex' refers to biology, while 'gender' refers to social/cultural identity

  • femininity

    a narrower term for qualities culturally associated with women, not the whole category

  • masculinity

    a narrower term for qualities culturally associated with men, not the whole category

Usage Note

The most common sense of 'gender' in modern English. It refers to social and cultural identities rather than biological ones. Frequently appears in set phrases such as gender equality, gender roles, and gender identity.

Common Mistakes

Gender is determined by your chromosomes.
Biological sex is determined by your chromosomes; gender involves social roles and identity.
gender refers to social/cultural identity, not biology.

2. a person's own status or experience of belonging to a particular gender group —

2.nounB2
Definition

a person's own status or experience of belonging to a particular gender group — for example, identifying as a man, a woman, or non‑binary.

Example

Shirin's understanding of her own gender grew as she learned about different identities.

The clinic provides care that respects each person's gender and personal history.

Common collocations
  • someone's gender
  • express gender
  • state gender
  • hide gender
  • respect gender
Synonyms
  • gender identity

    a more specific psychological term for one's internal sense of gender

  • gender expression

    refers to how someone shows their gender through appearance and behavior, rather than the status itself

Usage Note

This sense emphasizes the personal experience of belonging to a gender. It often overlaps with the term 'gender identity', though gender identity is a more specific psychological concept.

Common Mistakes

His gender is male, and he was born with male anatomy.
His biological sex is male, and his gender is male too.
'gender' refers to the personal status, while 'sex' refers to physical characteristics.

3. the division of people or animals by physical and biological traits — such as ch

3.nounB2
Definition

the division of people or animals by physical and biological traits — such as chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy — into types including masculine, feminine, or a combination of both.

Example

Some older medical forms still use the word 'gender' to ask about biological sex.

Maja learned in biology class that gender is sometimes confused with physical sex.

Common collocations
  • biological sex
  • physical sex
  • sex characteristics
  • sex at birth
Synonyms
  • sex

    the standard term for biological and physical differences between male, female, and intersex organisms

  • biological sex

    explicitly refers to physical and genetic characteristics

Usage Note

This usage — treating 'gender' as a synonym for biological sex — is becoming less common as the distinction between sex and gender is more widely understood. In formal and academic writing, 'sex' is preferred for biological differences, while 'gender' is reserved for social and cultural aspects.

Common Mistakes

The study looked at gender differences in heart disease rates.' (when meaning biological sex)
The study looked at sex differences in heart disease rates.
in scientific writing, 'sex' is preferred for biological differences.

4. a feature of some languages that sorts words such as nouns and their describing

4.nounB2
Definition

a feature of some languages that sorts words such as nouns and their describing adjectives into categories like masculine, feminine, or neuter, so that related words must match each other in form within a sentence.

Example

In French, every noun has a grammatical gender — it is either masculine or feminine.

collocation: grammatical gender

Diya struggled at first with remembering the gender of German nouns.

Common collocations
  • grammatical gender
  • noun gender
  • masculine gender
  • feminine gender
  • neuter gender

Usage Note

Only applies to languages that use grammatical gender, such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Latin. Chinese has no grammatical gender system. Some languages, like English, have limited natural gender (he / she) but no true grammatical gender for nouns.

Common Mistakes

In English, 'table' is feminine.
English does not assign grammatical gender to nouns
we say 'a table', not 'a feminine table'.' — grammatical gender is a feature of some languages, not all.

gender — verb

IPA/ˈdʒen.dər/
KK[dʒˈɛndɚ]IPA/ˈdʒen.dɚ/

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

While 'gender' refers to the social and cultural expectations associated with being male, female, or non-binary, 'sex' describes biological and physical characteristics such as chromosomes and anatomy. These two terms are often confused. 'Gender identity' is a narrower concept that refers specifically to a person's internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not align with the gender they were assigned at birth. Meanwhile, 'femininity' and 'masculinity' describe sets of qualities or behaviors that a culture associates with women and men respectively. For example, you might say 'Lucía's gender is non-binary, and she expresses both femininity and masculinity in her style' — here 'gender' names the category, while 'femininity' and 'masculinity' describe the traits she draws from.

sex ↗gender identityfemininity ↗masculinity ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • gender studies
  • gender discrimination
  • gender bias

Phrases

  • gender equality
  • gender identity
  • gender roles

Prepositions

  • by gender
  • based on gender
  • regardless of gender

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The word 'gender' entered English from Old French 'gendre' (meaning 'kind' or 'type'), which came from Latin 'genus' (meaning 'birth, family, kind, class'). It was first used in English mainly for grammatical gender — the classification of nouns as masculine, feminine, or neuter. Starting in the 1400s, people also began using it to mean biological sex. The modern sense of gender as a social and cultural identity — separate from biology — developed in the mid-1900s, especially through the work of psychologists, sociologists, and feminist scholars.