Editing Grammatical gender (section)

=== Form-based morphological criteria ===
In many languages, nouns are assigned to gender largely without any semantic basis—that is, not based on any feature (such as animacy or sex) of the person or thing that a noun represents. In such languages there may be a correlation, to a greater or lesser degree, between gender and the form of a noun (such as the vowel or consonant or syllable with which it ends).

For example, in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], nouns that end in {{lang|es|-o}} are mostly masculine, whereas those that end in {{lang|es|-a}} are mostly feminine, regardless of their meaning. Nouns that end in some other vowel or a consonant are assigned a gender either according to [[etymology]], by analogy, or by some other convention. These rules may override semantics in some cases: for example, the noun {{lang|pt|membro}}/{{lang|es|miembro}} ("member") is always masculine, even when it refers to a girl or a woman, and {{lang|pt|pessoa}}/{{lang|es|persona}} ("person") is always feminine, even when it refers to a boy or a man, a kind of [[form-meaning mismatch]].

In other cases, meaning takes precedence: the noun {{lang|es|comunista}} "communist" is masculine when it refers or could refer to a man, even though it ends with {{lang|es|-a}}. Nouns in Spanish and Portuguese, as in the other [[Romance languages]] such as Italian and French, generally follow the gender of the Latin words from which they are derived. When nouns deviate from the rules for gender, there is usually an etymological explanation: {{lang|es|problema}} ("problem") is masculine in Spanish because it was derived from a Greek noun of the neuter gender, whereas {{lang|es|foto}} ("photo") and {{lang|es|radio}} ("broadcast signal") are feminine because they are [[Clipping (morphology)|clippings]] of {{lang|es|fotografía}} and {{lang|es|radiodifusión}} respectively, both grammatically feminine nouns.

Most Spanish nouns in {{lang|es|-ión}} are feminine. They derive from Latin feminines in {{lang|la|-ō}}, accusative {{lang|la|-iōnem}}. The opposite is correct with Northern [[Kurdish language]] or [[Kurmanci]]. For example, the words {{lang|ku|endam}} (member) and {{lang|ku|heval}} (friend) can be masculine or feminine according to the person they refer to.
* {{lang|ku|Keça wî hevala min e.}} (His daughter is my friend)
* {{lang|ku|Kurrê wî hevalê min e.}} (His son is my friend)

[[Suffix]]es often carry a specific gender. For example, in [[German language|German]], [[diminutive]]s with the suffixes {{lang|de|-chen}} and {{lang|de|-lein}}, meaning 'little, young', are always neuter, even if they refer to people, as with {{lang|de|Mädchen}} 'girl' and {{lang|de|Fräulein}} 'young woman' {{crossreference|(see [[#Natural gender|below]])|printworthy=y}}. Similarly, the suffix {{lang|de|-ling}}, which makes [[count noun|countable nouns]] from uncountable nouns ({{lang|de|Teig}} 'dough' → {{lang|de|Teigling}} 'piece of dough'), or personal nouns from abstract nouns ({{lang|de|Lehre}} 'teaching', {{lang|de|Strafe}} 'punishment' → {{lang|de|Lehrling}} 'apprentice', {{lang|de|Sträfling}} 'convict') or adjectives ({{lang|de|feige}} 'cowardly' → {{lang|de|Feigling}} 'coward'), always produces masculine nouns. And the German suffixes {{lang|de|-heit}} and {{lang|de|-keit}} (comparable with ''-hood'' and ''-ness'' in English) produce feminine nouns.

In [[Irish language|Irish]], most nouns ending with a broad consonant are masculine, those ending with a slender consonant are feminine (see [[Irish phonology]]), with significant exceptions: nouns ending in {{lang|ga|-óir}}/{{lang|ga|-eoir}} and {{lang|ga|-ín}} are always masculine, whereas those ending {{lang|ga|-óg/-eog}} or {{lang|ga|-lann}} are always feminine.

In [[Arabic language|Arabic]], nouns whose singular form ends in a ''[[tāʾ marbūṭah]]'' (traditionally a {{IPAblink|t}}, becoming {{IPAblink|h}} in [[pausa]]) are of feminine gender, the only significant exceptions being the word {{lang|ar|خليفة}} {{transliteration|ar|khalīfah}} ("[[caliph]]") and certain masculine personal names ({{abbr|e.g.|for example}} {{lang|ar|أسامة}} [[Osama (name)|ʾUsāmah]]). However, many masculine nouns have a [[broken plural|"broken" plural form]] ending in a ''tāʾ marbūṭa''; for example {{lang|ar|أستاذ}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ustādh}}'' ("male professor") has the plural {{lang|ar|أساتذة}} {{transliteration|ar|asātidha}}, which might be confused for a feminine singular noun. Gender may also be predictable from the type of [[Morphological derivation|derivation]]: for instance, the [[Arabic verbal noun|verbal nouns]] of Stem II (e.g. {{lang|ar|التفعيل}} {{transliteration|ar|al-tafʿīl}}, from {{lang|ar|فعّل، يفعّل}} {{transliteration|ar|faʿʿala, yufaʿʿil}}) are always masculine.

In [[French language|French]], nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-e}} tend to be feminine, whereas others tend to be masculine, but there are many exceptions to this ({{abbr|e.g.|for example}} {{lang|fr|cadre}}, {{lang|fr|arbre}}, {{lang|fr|signe}}, {{lang|fr|meuble}}, {{lang|fr|nuage}} are masculine as {{lang|fr|façon}}, {{lang|fr|chanson}}, {{lang|fr|voix}}, {{lang|fr|main}}, {{lang|fr|eau}} are feminine), note the many masculine nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-e}} preceded by double consonants. Certain suffixes are quite reliable indicators, such as {{lang|fr|-age}}, which when added to a verb ({{abbr|e.g.}} {{lang|fr|garer}} "to park" → {{lang|fr|garage}}; nettoyer "to clean" → {{lang|fr|nettoyage}} "cleaning") indicates a masculine noun; however, when {{lang|fr|-age}} is part of the root of the word, it can be feminine, as in {{lang|fr|plage}} ("beach") or {{lang|fr|image}}. On the other hand, nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-tion}}, {{lang|fr|-sion}} and {{lang|fr|-aison}} are almost all feminine, with a few exceptions, such as {{lang|fr|cation}}, {{lang|fr|bastion}}.

Nouns can sometimes vary their form to enable the [[Morphological derivation|derivation]] of differently gendered [[cognate (linguistics)|cognate]] nouns; for example, to produce nouns with a similar meaning but referring to someone of a different sex. Thus, in Spanish, {{lang|es|niño}} means "boy", and {{lang|es|niña}} means "girl". This paradigm can be exploited for making new words: from the masculine nouns {{lang|es|abogado}} "lawyer", {{lang|es|diputado}} "member of parliament" and {{lang|es|doctor}} "doctor", it was straightforward to make the feminine equivalents {{lang|es|abogada}}, {{lang|es|diputada}}, and {{lang|es|doctora}}.

In the same way, [[personal name]]s are frequently constructed with affixes that identify the sex of the bearer. Common feminine suffixes used in English names are ''-a'', of [[Latin language|Latin]] or [[Romance languages|Romance]] origin ({{abbr|cf.|compare with}} ''Robert'' and ''Roberta''); and ''-e'', of [[French language|French]] origin (cf. ''Justin'' and ''Justine'').

Although gender inflection may be used to construct nouns and names for people of different sexes in languages that have grammatical gender, this alone does not constitute grammatical gender. Distinct words and names for men and women are also common in languages which do not have a grammatical gender system for nouns in general. English, for example, has feminine suffixes such as ''-ess'' (as in ''waitress''), and also distinguishes male and female personal names, as in the above examples.

==== Differentiation of personal names ====
[[File:Spanish names&nouns ending in a Statistics.png|thumb|right|Statistical data on the Spanish nouns and names ending in ''a'']]

Given names are proper nouns and they follow the same gender grammatical rules as common nouns. In most Indo-European languages female grammatical gender is created using an "a" or an "e" ending.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

Classical Latin typically made a grammatical feminine gender with {{lang|la|-a}} ({{lang|la|silva}} "forest", {{lang|la|aqua}} "water") and this was reflected in feminine names originating in that period, like Emilia. Romance languages preserved this characteristic. For example, in Spanish, approximately 89% of nouns that end in ''-a'' or -''á'' are classified as feminine; the same is true for 98% of given names with the ''-a'' ending.<ref>[https://blog-en.namepedia.org/2015/11/why-most-european-names-ending-in-a-are-female/ Namepedia Blog – Why Most European Names Ending in A Are Female]</ref>

In the Germanic languages the female names have been Latinized by adding ''-e'' and ''-a'': Brunhild, Kriemhild and Hroswith became Brunhilde, Kriemhilde and Hroswitha.
Slavic feminine given names: Olga (Russian), Małgorzata (Polish), Tetiana (Ukrainian), Oksana (Belarusian), Eliška (Czech), Bronislava (Slovak), Milica (Serbian), Darina (Bulgarian), Lucja (Croatian), Lamija (Bosnian) and Zala (Slovenian).

==== Differentiation of nouns with human referents ====
In some languages, nouns with human references have two forms, a male and a female one. This includes not only proper names, but also names for occupations and nationalities. Examples include:

* English proper names:
*# male: ''Andrew''
*# female: ''Andrea''
*# common: ''Chris'' for both male and female
* English occupation names
*# male: ''waiter''
*# female: ''waitress''
*# common: ''doctor'' for both male and female
* Greek proper names {{lang|el|Κωνσταντίνος}} ({{transliteration|el|Konstantinos}}) and {{lang|el|Κωνσταντίνα}} ({{transliteration|el|Konstantina}})
* Greek occupation names {{lang|el|ηθοποιός}} ({{transliteration|el|ithopios}}) "actor" for both male and female in Greek and {{lang|el|γιατρός}} ({{transliteration|el|giatros}}) "doctor" for both, but with informal female variants {{lang|el|γιατρίνα}} ({{transliteration|el|giatrina}}) and {{lang|el|γιάτραινα}} ({{transliteration|el|giatraina}})
* Greek nationality names have five possibilities for 'English'.
*# male: {{lang|el|Άγγλος}} ({{transliteration|el|Anglos}})
*# female: {{lang|el|Αγγλίδα}} ({{transliteration|el|Anglida}})
*# masculine: {{lang|el|αγγλικός}} ({{transliteration|el|anglikos}})
*# feminine: {{lang|el|αγγλική}} ({{transliteration|el|angliki}})
*# neuter: {{lang|el|αγγλικό}} ({{transliteration|el|angliko}})

To complicate matters, Greek often offers additional informal versions of these. The corresponding for English are the following: {{lang|el|εγγλέζος}} ({{transliteration|el|englezos}}), {{lang|el|Εγγλέζα}} ({{transliteration|el|Engleza}}), {{lang|el|εγγλέζικος}} ({{transliteration|el|englezikos}}), {{lang|el|εγγλέζικη}} ({{transliteration|el|engleziki}}), {{lang|el|εγγλέζικο}} ({{transliteration|el|engleziko}}). The formal forms come from the name {{lang|el|Αγγλία}} ({{transliteration|el|Anglia}}) "England", while the less formal are derived from Italian {{lang|it|inglese}}.