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Where does the word "gender" come from? It comes from Latin genus, passing through Old French before entering English (1300s).
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Where does the word "gender" come from? It comes from Latin genus, passing through Old French before entering English (1300s).
Gender’s story begins in Latin: genus meant “kind, race.” The root of 'genre' and 'general'. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Old French as gendre. Used for grammatical classes. It reached English by 1300s as gender. The social sense dates from the 1900s. Today, gender means the state of being male or female; a grammatical class.
- Stage 1 · Latin · ancient genus "kind, race", the root of 'genre' and 'general'.
- Stage 2 · Old French · medieval gendre "kind", used for grammatical classes.
- Stage 3 · English · 1300s gender "kind; grammatical class", the social sense dates from the 1900s.