male

From Middle English male, borrowed from Old French malle, masle (Modern French mâle), from Latin masculus (“masculine, a male”), diminutive of mās (“male, masculine”). Doublet of macho.

• (UK, US) enPR: māl, IPA^(key): /meɪl/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: mail

male (not generally comparable, comparative maler or more male, superlative malest or most male)

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

   male writers

   the leading male and female singers

   a male bird feeding a seed to a female

   in bee colonies, all drones are male

   intersex male patients

   • 1995, Gill Van Hasselt, Childbirth: Your Choices for Managing Pain (Taylor Pub, →ISBN):

     We got the hang of [caring for a baby], Kate and I, with some quiet, surprising guidance from a gentle male nurse whose touching lack of intrusion was so instinctive as to seem part of the pattern.

   • 2016, Tobias Raun, Out Online (→ISBN):

     Whereas many other trans male vloggers use the videos to assert a conventionally recognizable masculinity through sculpting and carrying their bodies as well as dressing and talking in masculine-coded ways, Carson explores and plays with ways of expressing femininity within (trans) maleness.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:male.
2. Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare masculine, manly.)

   stereotypically male interests, an insect with typically male coloration

   • 2006, Bonnie Roberts, Bruises on the Heart (→ISBN), page 118:

     A bright light was shone in her eye and then she heard a kind, male voice who she figured must be Dr. Smith. “Yes, let her rest now, but keep an eye on her blood pressure and her pulse. Check her about every 15 or 20 minutes. Call me if any problem occurs.”

   • 2004, Mino Vianello, Gwen Moore, Women and Men in Political and Business Elites: A Comparative Study (→ISBN):

     More than that, we cannot find the same dynamics within female career trajectories as in the other two country groups, because the time-structure of female and male careers already shows great similarity within the older generation of elites. In addition, the pattern of the relation between female and male careers remains the same over time.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:male.
3. Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.

   the male chromosome;   like testes, ovaries also produce testosterone and some other male hormones

4. (grammar, less common than 'masculine') Masculine; of the masculine 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. (figuratively) Of instruments, tools, or connectors: designed to fit into or penetrate a female counterpart, as in a connector, pipe fitting or laboratory glassware. [from 16th c.]
   • 1982, Popular Science, page 119:

     Male adapter connects female pipe threads to polyethylene cold-water pipe; [...] female flare coupling connects male pipe threads to flared copper or plastic;

• manly, masculine
• (figurative: of instuments, etc): plug, pin

• female; androgynous; intersex; non-binary
• (grammar): female: see also masculine

• male-assigned, cis male, trans male
• male-dominated

male (plural males)

1. One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
   1. A human member of the masculine sex or gender.
      • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:male.
   2. An animal of the sex that has testes.
   3. A plant of the masculine sex.

• female

• man, boy

• macho
• ♂
• sex, gender, gender identity

• -meal, Elam, Elma, Lema, alme, amel, lame, lamé, leam, lema, meal, mela, mela-

• IPA^(key): /maːlə/, [ˈmæːlə]

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From Middle Low German mālen (“to draw, paint”). Cognate with Icelandic mála (“to paint”).

male (imperative mal, present maler, past malede or malte, past participle malet or malt)

1. to paint

• maler (“painter”)
• maleri (“painting”)
• maling (“paint”)

From Old Norse mala, from Proto-Germanic *malaną (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, rub, break up”). Cognate with Icelandic mala.

male (imperative mal, infinitive at male, present tense maler, past tense malede, perfect tense er/har malet)

1. to grind, mill

• maling (“grinding”)

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male

1. (archaic) Dative singular form of maal

male

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of malen

From prefix mal- (antonym)+-e (indicates adverbs)

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male

1. on the contrary
2. opposingly; in opposition

   male ol...

   as opposed to...

Coined ex nihilo by Ado Grenzstein in the 19th century.

male (genitive male, partitive malet)

1. (board games) chess

• Rhymes: -aːlə

male

1. First-person singular present of malen.
2. Imperative singular of malen.
3. First-person singular subjunctive I of malen.
4. Third-person singular subjunctive I of malen.

From Latin male.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmaː.le], /ˈmale/

male (comparative: peggio; superlative: malissimo)

1. badly, wrongly

• bene

male m (plural mali)

1. evil, harm
2. pain, ache, illness, sickness, disease

• bene

• malfare
• malo
• malvagio

male

1. (archaic) feminine plural of malo (“bad”)

• dolore

• alme
• lame
• mela

From malus (“bad, wicked”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.le/, [ˈma.ɫɛ]

male (comparative pēius, superlative pessimē)

1. badly
2. wrongly
3. cruelly, wickedly
4. not much; feebly

• maledīcō
• malefaciō
• nōn male

• malus

• male in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• male in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• male in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to deserve ill of a person; to treat badly: male mereri de aliquo
    
  • (ambiguous) to have a good or bad reputation, be spoken well, ill of: bene, male audire (ab aliquo)
    
  • (ambiguous) to inculcate good (bad) principles: bene (male) praecipere alicui
    
  • (ambiguous) a guilty conscience: animus male sibi conscius
    
  • (ambiguous) a moral (immoral) man: homo bene (male) moratus
    
  • (ambiguous) to bless (curse) a person: precari alicui bene (male) or omnia bona (mala), salutem
    
  • (ambiguous) to manage one's affairs, household, property well or ill: rem bene (male) gerere (vid. sect. XVI. 10a)
    
  • (ambiguous) to buy dearly: magno or male emere
    
  • (ambiguous) to win, lose a fight (of the commander): rem (bene, male) gerere (vid. sect. XII. 2, note rem gerere...)
    
  • (ambiguous) I am sorry to hear..: male (opp. bene) narras (de)
    

From Middle Dutch mālen, from Old Dutch *malan, from Proto-Germanic *malaną.

male

1. to mill

From Old Norse mála and Middle Low German malen

male (imperative mal, present tense maler, passive males, simple past malte, past participle malt, present participle malende)

1. to paint

• måle (Nynorsk)

From Old Norse mala

male (imperative mal, present tense maler, passive males, simple past mol or malte, past participle malt, present participle malende)

1. to grind or mill (to make smaller by breaking with a device)
2. to purr (of a cat, to make a vibrating sound in its throat when contented)

• den som kommer først til mølla, får først malt (to mill)
• hvitmalt (painted white)
• maleri (painting)
• male seg inn i et hjørne (to paint)
• maling (paint, painting)
• rødmalt (painted red)
• skjønnmale (to paint)
• umalt (both senses)

• “male” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

male (present tense mel, past tense mol, past participle male, present participle malande, imperative mal)

1. Alternative form of mala

male (present tense malar, past tense mala, past participle mala, passive infinitive malast, present participle malande, imperative mal/male)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2012; superseded by måle, to paint

• malle

From Medieval Latin mala, from Frankish *malha (“leather bag”).

male f (oblique plural males, nominative singular male, nominative plural males)

1. pack, bag

• Middle French: malle
  • French: malle
  • → Spanish: mala
• Gallo: mol
• Walloon: male (Forrières)
• → Middle English: male, maile, mayll
  • Scots: male, mail
  • English: mail

male

1. locative singular of mala (“dirt”)