GENDER, among grammarians, a division of nouns, or names, to distinguish the two sexes.
This was the original intention of gender: but, afterwards, other words, which had no proper relation either to the one sex or the other, had genders assigned them, rather out of caprice than reason; which is at length established by custom. Hence genders vary according to the languages, or even according to the words introduced from one language into another. Thus, arbore, in Latin, is feminine; but arbre, in French, is masculine: and dens, in Latin, is masculine; but dent, in French, is feminine.
The oriental languages frequently neglect the use of genders: and the Persian language has none at all; which is no disadvantage, the distinction of genders being in great measure useless.
The Latins, Greeks, &c. generally content themselves to express the different genders by different terminations, as bonus equus, "a good horse;" bona equa, "a good mare," &c. But in English, we frequently go further, and express the difference of sex by different words: as boar, sow; boy, girl; buck, doe; bull, cow; cock, hen; dog, bitch, &c.—We have only about 24 feminines, distinguished from the males, by the variation of the termination of the male into ess; of which number are abbot, abbess; count, countess; actor, actress; heir, heiress; prince, princess, &c. which is all that our language knows of any thing like genders.
The eastern languages, as well as the vulgar languages of the west, have only two genders; the masculine and feminine. The Greek and Latin have likewise the neuter, common, and the doubtful gender; and beside these, they have the epicene, or promiscuous, which under one single gender and termination includes both the kinds.