male
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An animal that produces gametes that can fertilize female gametes.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
maylIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmeɪl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An animal of the sex that has testes.
An animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova)
A bacterium which has the F factor.
A human member of the masculine sex or gender.
A plant of the masculine sex.
A Madang language of Papua New Guinea.
adjective
Belonging to the sex which typically produces sperm, or to the gender which is typically associated with it.
Characteristic of this sex/gender.
Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.
of bacteria
Having the F factor; able to impart DNA into another bacterium which does not have the F factor (a female).
figuratively
Of instruments, tools, or connectors: designed to fit into or penetrate a female counterpart, as in a connector, pipe fitting or laboratory glassware.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An animal of the sex that has testes.
Used this way, male is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use male
- “The park ranger identified the male deer by its large antlers.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Impotence resulting from a man's inability to have or maintain an erection of his penis.
Fern of North America and Europe whose rhizomes and stalks yield an oleoresin used to expel tapeworms.
External male sex organs.
External male sex organs.
External male sex organs.
The male of species Equus caballus.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.