Main Entry:

¹gen·der

Pronunciation:

\ˈjen-dər\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English gendre, from Anglo-French genre, gendre, from Latin gener-, genus birth, race, kind, gender — more at kin

Date:

14th century

1 a: a subclass within a grammatical class (as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms b: membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass c: an inflectional form showing membership in such a subclass2 a: sex <the feminine gender> b: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex