male

Etymology

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 “penised”), derived from the noun wǣpn (“weapon”), which had the secondary sense “penis”.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophone: mail

Adjective

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 quotations using 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 quotations using 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. (of bacteria) Having the F factor; able to impart DNA into another bacterium which does not have the F factor (a female).
   • 1967, Symposium on Infectious Multiple Drug Resistance: Genetics, Molecular Nature, and Clinical Implications of R Factors, May 25, 1967, page 7:

     Furthermore, male bacteria with fi + R factors, which inhibit the function of F (fi fertility inhibition) (Watanabe et al., 1964a), cannot form specific cell pairs at high frequencies. On the contrary, the formation of […]

   • (Can we date this quote?), The genetics problem solver, Research & Education Assoc., →ISBN, page 443:

     Male bacteria having the sex factor, also known as the F or "fertility" factor, are termed P if the sex factor exists extrachromosomally. F+ bacteria can only conjugate with F, the female counterparts, which do not possess the F [factor].

6. (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;

Noun

male (plural males)

1. One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
   1. A human member of the masculine sex or gender.
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:male.
   2. An animal of the sex that has testes.
   3. A plant of the masculine sex.
2. A bacterium which has the F factor.
   • 2001 August 1, Harrison G. Echols, Operators and Promoters: The Story of Molecular Biology and Its Creators, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 45:

     During mating, F+ male bacteria transfer the F factor to the recipient females, transforming them into F+ males. Males also retain a copy of their F factor for themselves (left). When Hfr (or high frequency recombination) males mate […]

   • 2021 February 26, Gregor Majdic, Soul Mate Biology: Science of attachment and love, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 10:

     In this process, one bacterium designated the male bacterium transfers its DNA into the female bacterium. Bacteria are determined to be male or female by a small piece of DNA, called F-plasmid, or sex factor. Bacteria with this small piece of DNA are labeled as males, and bacteria that do not have this factor are considered females. […] Nevertheless, in addition to a small piece of DNA, male bacteria have some unique characteristics. They can make a special protrusion on their surface, called F-pilus. Pilae (plural for pilus) are hair-like structures that cover the […]

3. A male connector, pipe fitting, etc.
   • 1981, Modern Photography:

     Work another rubber washer over the threads of the male adapter that is now sticking out of the bucket. […] cut out with an X-acto knife, then thread the female fittings to the males.

Derived terms

See also

• macho
• ♂ (symbol for male)
• sex, gender, gender identity

Anagrams

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈle/ [mʌˈlɛ]
• Hyphenation: ma‧le

Particle

malé

1. Alternative form of maléey

References

• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaːlə/, [ˈmɛːlə]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German mālen (“to draw, paint”), from Old Saxon mālōn, from Proto-West Germanic *mālōn, from Proto-Germanic *mēlōną, which could be related to *mailą (“spot, blemish, mark”). Cognate with Icelandic mála (“to paint”).

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

male

1. (archaic) dative singular of maal

Verb

male

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of malen

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmale]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ale
• Hyphenation: ma‧le

Adverb

male

1. on the contrary
2. opposingly; in opposition

   male ol... ― as opposed to...

Etymology

From malev (“army”), a word attested in the 13th century Livonian Chronicle of Henry. Coined by Ado Grenzstein in the 19th century.

Noun

male (genitive male, partitive malet)

1. (board games) chess

See also

Chess pieces in Estonian · malendid (see also: male) (layout · text)
kuningas	lipp	vanker	oda	ratsu	ettur

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːlə

Verb

male

1. inflection of malen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative
   3. first/third-person singular subjunctive I

Etymology

Borrowed from English marry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.le/, [ˈmɐ.le]

Verb

male

1. to marry

Etymology

From Latin male.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.le/
• Rhymes: -ale
• Hyphenation: mà‧le

Adverb

male (comparative peggio, superlative malissimo)

1. badly, wrongly

   Antonym: bene

Noun

male m (plural mali)

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

Adjective

male

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

See also

• dolore

Anagrams

• alme, lame, mela

Etymology

From malus (“bad, wicked”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈma.le/, [ˈmäɫ̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈma.le/, [ˈmäːle]

Adverb

male (comparative pēius, superlative pessimē)

1. badly

   Antonym: bene

   • 1413, Jan Hus, Epistola ad Iohannem de Reinstein‎:

     Melius est bene morī quam male vīvere.

     It is better to die well than to live badly.

2. wrongly

   Synonym: prāvē

3. cruelly, wickedly
4. not much; feebly

References

• “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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 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)
    

Alternative forms

• maale (Eupen, Krefeld)
  • mooehle (Krefeld)
  • maole (Maastrichtian)

Etymology

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

Verb

male

1. To mill.

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French masle, malle, from Late Latin masclus, from Latin masculus; compare femele and masculyn.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman and continental Old French male, from Frankish *malhu, from Proto-Germanic *malhō.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin mālum, from Ancient Greek μῆλον (mêlon), of unknown origin.

Etymology 4

Etymology 5

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mála and Middle Low German malen.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse mala.

References

• “male” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑː.le/

Noun

māle

1. dative singular of māl

Alternative forms

• malle

Etymology

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

Noun

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

1. pack, bag

Alternative forms

Noun

male

1. locative singular of mala (“dirt”)

Etymology

From Latin male. Compare Italian male.

Adverb

male

1. badly

Adjective

male

1. inflection of mal:
   1. masculine accusative plural
   2. feminine genitive singular
   3. feminine nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Etymology

From Proto-Batak *ləhey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [maˈlɛ]

Adjective

male

1. hungry

References

• Warneck, J. (1906). Tobabataksch-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Batavia: Landesdrukkerij, p. 113.