entry
male
/meɪl/A sex producing or organized to produce sperm
From Latin mascul- (male).
from Old French masle (adj.) "masculine, male, adult," also used as a noun (12c., Modern French mâle )
+1 more sourcefrom Latin masculus "masculine, male, worthy of a man" (source also of Provençal mascle , Spanish macho , Italian...
+1 more sourcefrom Old French masle (adj.) "masculine, male, adult," also used as a noun (12c., Modern French mâle )
from Middle English male, borrowed
Word Ancestry
from Old French masle (adj.) "masculine, male, adult," also used as a noun (12c., Modern French mâle )
+1 more sourcefrom Latin masculus "masculine, male, worthy of a man" (source also of Provençal mascle , Spanish macho , Italian...
+1 more sourcefrom Old French masle (adj.) "masculine, male, adult," also used as a noun (12c., Modern French mâle )
from Middle English male, borrowed
Latin mās meant a male person or animal, and Latin speakers built masculus from it—a form that originally carried the flavor of “male-ish” or “masculine.” French inherited this as Old French masle, while English borrowed it in the late fourteenth century, when “male” could describe humans, fish, land animals, plants, screws, joints, and even certain kinds of poetic lines. The word’s closest famous cousin is macho, which traveled through Spanish from the same Latin family; “male” and “macho” are linguistic relatives despite their very different modern personalities. English once had a native word, Old English wǣpned, literally “weaponed,” for a male—an image much less neutral than today’s biological term. So whenever you say “male,” you are using a compact French package containing an ancient Latin idea of the sex that begets young.
The Story
Latin mās meant a male person or animal, and Latin speakers built masculus from it—a form that originally carried the flavor of “male-ish” or “masculine.” French inherited this as Old French masle, while English borrowed it in the late fourteenth century, when “male” could describe humans, fish, land animals, plants, screws, joints, and even certain kinds of poetic lines. The word’s closest famous cousin is macho, which traveled through Spanish from the same Latin family; “male” and “macho” are linguistic relatives despite their very different modern personalities. English once had a native word, Old English wǣpned, literally “weaponed,” for a male—an image much less neutral than today’s biological term. So whenever you say “male,” you are using a compact French package containing an ancient Latin idea of the sex that begets young.
Modern Usage
In some online slang, a man stereotyped as sexually preoccupied, arrogant, or otherwise blameworthy; usage is derogatory and nonstandard.
Kin & Kindred
From 'mascul-'·male, masculine
Cognates
Related words in other languages
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary