English
male
Male comes from Middle English male, from Old French malle/masle, from Latin masculus, diminutive of mās ‘male’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmās‘male, masculine’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmasculus‘masculine, a male’diminutive of mās
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400masle
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500male‘a man’
- Englishearliest quotation 1967male
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmās‘male, masculine’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmasculus‘masculine, a male’diminutive of mās
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400masle
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500male‘a man’
- Englishearliest quotation 1967male
Earliest quotation: 1967, Symposium on Infectious Multiple Drug Re, Molecular Nature: “Furthermore, male bacteria with fi + R factors, which…”
Linked words
through Latin mās ‘male, masculine’
married, marriage, marry, marital, 8 more
through Latin masculus ‘masculine, a male’
masculine, masculinity, 3 more
through Vulgar Latin masclus ‘syncopated form of masculus (“male”)’
through Middle English male ‘a man’
Today it means
adj Belonging to the sex which typically produces sperm, or to the gender which is typically associated with it.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mās / male