Gender-specific nouns

In many languages, the gender of nouns is divided into three categories; masculine, feminine and neuter.

Male people and animals belong to the masculine gender (e.g. boy, son, or uncle) and female people and animals belong to the feminine gender (e.g. girl, daughter, or aunt).

In English, most nouns are neither masculine or feminine. They do not refer specifically to males or females. They are neuter.

A gender-specific noun refers only to males or only to females. Gender-specific nouns traditionally have separate forms for males and females.

Nowadays, people prefer not to use feminine forms of some nouns. For example, we can use the word ‘actor’ for both male and female.

Masculine	Feminine
actor	actress
boy	girl
bridegroom	bride
brother	sister
businessman	businesswoman
chairman	chairwoman
conductor	conductress
congressman	congresswoman
count	countress
dad (daddy)	mum (mummy)
duke	duchess
emperor	empress
god	godess
heir	heiress
hero	heroine
host	hostess
husband	wife
king	queen
man	woman
master	mistress
murderer	murderess
nephew	niece
poet	poetess
policeman	policewoman
salesman	saleswoman
sir	madam
son	daughter
uncle	aunt
waiter	waitress
weatherman	weathergirl
wizard	witch

We can also use neutral words instead of some gender-specific nouns.  For example, we can use police officer instead of policeman or policewoman.

Neutral form	Masculine	Feminine
businessperson	businessman	businesswoman
chair	chairman	chairwoman
firefighter	fireman
police officer	policeman	policewoman
cabin attendant	steward	stewardess
waiter	waitress	server

Some animals names have different forms for males and females

Animal	Masculine	Feminine
cattle	bull	cow
chicken	rooster	hen
deer	buck	doe
dog	dog	bitch
duck	drake	duck
fox	fox	vixen
goose	gander	goose
horse	stallion	mare
lion	lion	lioness
rabbit	buck	doe
sheep	ram	ewe
tiger	tiger	tigress