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.

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 9780878339020):

     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 1317084675):

     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 9781847284839), 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 1412933749):

     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;

Noun

male (plural males)

1. One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
   1. (sometimes offensive) 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.

See also

• macho
• ♂
• sex, gender, gender identity

Anagrams

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːlə/, [ˈmæːlə]

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German mālen (“to draw, paint”). 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 form of maal

Verb

male

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of malen

Etymology

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

Adverb

male

1. on the contrary
2. opposingly; in opposition

   male ol...

   as opposed to...

Etymology

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

Noun

male (genitive male, partitive malet)

1. (board games) chess

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aːlə

Verb

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.

Etymology

From Latin male.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmaː.le], /ˈmale/

Adverb

male (comparative: peggio; superlative: malissimo)

1. badly, wrongly

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) IPA^(key): /ˈma.le/, [ˈma.ɫɛ]

Adverb

male (comparative pēius, superlative pessimē)

1. badly
2. wrongly
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, 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)
    

Etymology

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

Verb

male

1. to mill

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mála and Middle Low German malen

Etymology 2

From Old Norse mala

Derived terms

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

References

• “male” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Verb

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

1. Alternative form of mala

Verb

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

Alternative forms

• malle

Etymology

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

Noun

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

1. pack, bag