female

/'fi:meil/
Học thuật
Thân thiện
female

A female scientist examines a specimen under a microscope.

Definition
  1. Adjective:

    • Of or relating to the sex that produces ova or bears young: Used to describe animals, plants, or humans of the sex that can produce eggs or give birth.
    • Characteristic of or belonging to women or girls: Pertaining to qualities, roles, or items traditionally associated with women.
    • Having a hollow or recessed part designed to receive a corresponding projecting part (male part): Used in mechanics and engineering.
  2. Noun:

    • An individual of the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs: Refers to a woman, girl, or female animal.
    • A plant that produces fruit after fertilization: A plant with pistils but no functional stamens.
Examples of Usage
  • Adjective:

    • We adopted a female puppy from the shelter.
    • The study focused on female athletes and their training regimens.
    • Connect the female end of the cable to the port.
  • Noun:

    • The female of the species is often responsible for caring for the young.
    • The plant is a female and requires a nearby male plant for pollination.
Advanced Usage
  • "The female of the species": A phrase, often used in biology or figuratively, to refer to females in a general or representative way.

    • The documentary highlighted how the female of the species is often the primary hunter.
  • In formal/biological contexts: Used precisely to denote sex based on reproductive function.

    • The researchers collected eggs from the female Drosophila.
Variants and Related Words
  • Feminine (adj): Having qualities or an appearance traditionally associated with women. (Note: This relates to gender attributes, not biological sex like "female").
  • Femaleness (n): The state or condition of being female.
Synonyms
  • Woman (n): An adult female human. (More specific to humans).
  • Girl (n): A female child or young woman.
  • Hen (n): A female bird, especially of a domestic fowl. (Specific to animals).
Antonyms
  • Male (adj/n): Of or denoting the sex that produces small, typically motile gametes, especially spermatozoa, with which a female may be fertilized.
Related Phrases/Idioms
  • The fairer sex: A traditional, sometimes poetic, term for women. (Note: This is an idiom, not a direct synonym for "female").
  • Female counterpart: A woman or female thing that corresponds to a man or male thing.
    • She met her female counterpart from the partnering company.
female

A female scientist examines a specimen under a microscope.

Adjective
  1. for or pertaining to or composed of women or girls
    • the female lead in the play
    • a female chorus
  2. characteristic of or peculiar to a woman
    • female sensitiveness
    • female suffrage
  3. being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop
    • a female heir
    • female holly trees bear the berries
Noun
  1. a person who belongs to the sex that can have babies
  2. an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa)