Living beings are generally of either the male or female sex. When we compare the nouns Boy & Girl or Hero & Heroine, what do we notice? The first word in the pair is the name given to the class of male and the second word is of the class of female. In this article lets discuss the the Noun Gender topic in detail.

The Noun Gender

The word ‘Gender’ comes from the Latin ‘Genus’ meaning kind or sort. Gender of Nouns is basically of four types.

• Masculine 
• Feminine 
• Common
• Neuter 

Lets see what each of these represent.

Masculine Gender

• A noun denoting a male being is said to be of the Masculine Gender. For example, Rama, John, Boys, Lion – these are Masculine Gender as they denote a male being. 

Feminine Gender

• A noun denoting a female being is said to be of the Feminine Gender. For example, Lioness, Heroine – these are Feminine Genders as they denote a female being.

Common Gender

• A Noun denoting either a male or a female is said to be of the Common Gender. For example: Parent, child, student etc. – these are of Common Gender as they are used in common to both the Masculine and Feminine Genders.

Neuter Gender:

• A noun that denoting a thing that is neither male nor female is said to be of Neuter Gender. in other words a thing with out life are considered Neuter Gender.For Example: Book, Pen, Room, Tree etc.

Thus in English, the gender of a Noun is based on the sex or the absence of sex but not on the form of the noun as in case of other languages.

Personified Nouns and their Gender

Some objects having no life are often Personified i.e., they are treated as living beings. We see this kind of personification in Poetry commonly.

• Masculine Gender is often applied to objects representing for strength and violence. For example, ‘Sun’ is often treated as masculine gender.
• Feminine Gender is applied to objects representing beauty, gentle nature etc. For example, ‘Moon’ is generally treated as Feminine Gender.

Click here to learn more about Nouns 

For other Grammar topics Click here

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