male

CEFRA2

/meɪl/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Relating to a man, boy, or male animal.

  2. 02

    noun

    A man, boy, or male animal.

Examples

  • The male ape is intelligent by nature.

  • The male of the species has a white tail.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare masculine, manly.)

  2. Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.

  3. Belonging to the sex which typically produces sperm, or to the gender which is typically associated with it.

More examples

In context

  • The smirking male clerk replied.

  • a male bird feeding a seed to a female

  • the leading male and female singers

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In lions, the blank sex is the only one that grows a full mane.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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. Displaced native Old English wǣpned (“male”, literally “weaponed”).