オス

Japanese

Etymology

The katakana rendering of 雄 (osu, “male”, for non-human contexts).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) オス [òsúꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[1]
IPA^(key): [o̞sɨᵝ]

Alternative forms

雄, 牡

Noun

オス (rōmaji osu)

(biology, non-human) male

Usage notes

The term osu refers to male with regard to non-human organisms.

The katakana spelling is more common in biology contexts. Of the kanji spellings, 雄 appears to be somewhat more common.

Synonyms

(human male): 男 (だん)性 (せい) (dansei)

Antonyms

(non-human female): メス (mesu)
(human female): 女 (じょ)性 (せい) (josei)

References

2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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