adjectives used only with men or women

**Vyacheslav** · 02-24-2006, 08:21 AM

Everyone whose native language is English invited!

I live in Russia. And many people here study English as their second language. I'm in my 5th year of the pedagogical university.
I'm currently working at my degree work/thesis. The topic is connected with the subject and I need help.
The fact is that adjectives in Middle English period lost the category of gender. Presently, it means that if I look at the adjective "beautiful". I don't know what gender it comprises. Earlier this was reflected through inflexions. Now no flexion is present resulting in no gender in adjectives. That's what I mean. But my work coordinator insists that the English language has some adjectives that do comprise gender-related traits (though it's expressed not grammatically). For example, handsome is used mainly with men (not women), as well as pretty is used with women (not men). First of all, I thought this topic to be a failure. How can I prepare a well-done 100 page thesis? Such adjectives are few. It turned out that such adjectives are not few, but more than 150 and even more. Linguists consider such cases as stereotypes in the language. Well, probably such adjectives are stereotypes. Then comes the question how many such like adjectives in the language. After having analyzed different dictionaries like Oxford, Cambridge, Webster, Longman and others I came to a conclusion that such adjectives are rarely disinguished in a big mass of adjectives. The problem is that for those who study English as a foreign language this present an important issue. Many mistakes can occur. Dictionary-makers do not bother themselves with distinguishing such adjectives. I mean they mention these adjectives, but do not always mention that it's used only with men or women. Cambridge dictionary was closer to the ideal, while Webster's dictionary never mentioned whether this or that adjective is used with men or women. Probably it is implicated that all adjectives in English can be used both with men and women. Though we know it's not like this.
Other problems which arise is that, I think, even dictionaries can be mistaken. Some adjectives which are said to be used only with men or women are currently used both with men and women. To check this out I prepared a test work/kind of survey and need about 20 people (Englishmen, Americans) to pass the test. All this is needed to check whether these words/adjectives do can be used only with men or women.
Or perhaps if both is possible then it means that the adjective is wrongly distinguished in the dictionary.
To have this test, visit the link:
[url="http://portalamur.blogspot.com/"]http://portalamur.blogspot.com/[/url]

My main aim is to make a maximum full list of such adjectives which are used only with men or women English. If some of them are not mentioned in my list (link above in the test), please add them here.

Everyone interested in this topic, please leave your comments. I need all of your comments immensely.

**Xyphir** · 02-28-2006, 01:15 AM

I'd be interested to read your paper once it is written. My flatmate and I have been trying to figure out waht happened to male/female words. (just in conversation over dinenr mind...)

**Vyacheslav** · 02-28-2006, 01:24 AM

Thank you for your interest.
You see this subject was never really studied. But it's worth studying.
I think I will be able to draw attention to this.

**ucitel** · 03-24-2006, 04:27 PM

You're doing some interesting research there. I took your test, but I had to leave some items blank, because they ask me to react to words that are British slang, and because standard American dictionaries don't contain them, I couldn't find out what they meant. ("Blokish" is one example.)

There is a complication with words that can be applied to both genders. Sometimes they mean exactly the same thing, and sometimes they mean something very different when applied to each gender. For example, a handsome man is just a good-looking man. A handsome woman, on the other hand, is a good-looking woman who gives off an air of natural authority. A pretty woman is just a good-looking woman, but a pretty man is one who takes excessive care of his looks and grooming, to the point where it seems more normal for a woman than for a man.

On the other hand, there are adjectives that can't be applied to a certain gender because by their very etymology they apply only to the other. The word "virile" comes from the Latin word "vir", which means "man", so that has never been anything but a masculine adjective.

Then there are pragmatic things to work out. A fat woman can be "Rubenesque", but a fat man can't, because the painter Rubens painted fat women, not fat men.

Another interesting thing is what happens in languages that have no grammatical or natural gender at all, like Hungarian. In that language, they add "woman" to the end of some words to compensate for the lack of gender distinction. A male teacher is therefore a "teacher", while a female one is a "teacherwoman". In languages like this, they can't say "he" or "she", but they may replace their gender-neutral pronoun with expressions like "that woman" or "that man".

**Vyacheslav** · 03-25-2006, 01:50 AM

ucitel thank you so much for your post.
I'll use the data you've mentioned in my research work.

The test which you've passed was not elaborately done actually. Because I haven't provided the exact meaning of this or that word. There was a sort of ambiguity about this. Right now I offer this for analysis.

These are the adjectives used with men only (in a given meaning).
The task is to exclude the adjectives which can be used equally with women in a given meaning.

1. beautiful (referring to his nature)
2. blokeish, blokish (behaves in the way people traditionally think ordinary men behave when they are together)
3. blond (who is blonde has pale or yellow hair)
4. burly (large and strong)
5. camp (behaving and dressing in a way that some people think is typical of a homosexual)
6. chivalrous (behaves in a polite, kind, generous, and honourable way)
7. cissy, sissy (considered not to exhibit or be characteristic of stereotypical masculinity)
8. dapper (dressed in a fashionable and tidy way)
9. debonair (fashionable and well dressed and behaves in an attractively confident way)
10. effeminate (behaves, looks, or sounds like a woman or girl)
11. effete (looking or behaving like a woman)
12. expectant (whose partner is pregnant)
13. galant (polite and kind towards women, especially when in public)
14. handsome (attractive; good****looking)
15. henpecked (always being told what to do by his wife)
16. hulking (very big and often awkward)
17. hunky (attractive and strong-looking)
18. husky (big and strong)
19. impotent (unable to perform sexual intercourse)
20. limp-wristed (homosexual, effeminate)
21. macho (stereotypically masculine: having or showing characteristics conventionally regarded as male)
22. queer (homosexual)
23. portly (rather fat = stout)
24. potent (capable of sexual intercourse)
26. rugged (good-looking and has strong features which are often not perfect)
27. slobbish (a lazy, untidy and often rude person)
28. stocky (whose body is wide across the shoulders and chest and who is short)
29. suave (very polite, charming and usually attractive, often in a way that is slightly false)
30. tame (docile: habitually inclined to submit to the wishes of others)
31. urbane (confident, comfortable and polite in social situations
= suave)
32. virile (full of sexual strength and energy in a way that is considered attractive)
33. virtuo(u)s (behaves in a moral and correct way)

These are the adjectives (below) used with women in 90-100 per cent cases (in a given meaning). Exclude those adjectives which can be used with men (without obtaining any additional connotation (I mean, not becoming offfensive if they are used so)).

1. Amazonian (notably tall, physically strong, or strong-willed)
2. battered (hurt by being repeatedly hit)
3. beautiful (referring to good looks)
3. blonde (who is blonde has pale or yellow hair)
4. blowsy, blowzy (fat and looks untidy)
5. bonny (attractive: pleasing to look at)
6. bosomy (having large breasts)
7. brassy (too loud, confident, or brightly dressed)
8. braw (beautiful, especially because big and strong)
9. brazen (behaving in an immoral way without being embarrassed or ashamed)
10. broody (wanting pregnancy)
11. bubbly (lively and cheerful and talks a lot)
12. buxom (healthy-looking and slightly fat, with large breasts)
13. chesty, busty (having large breasts)
14. coy (being or pretending to be shy, modest, childish or lacking in confidence)
15. curvaceous (having an attractively curved body shape)
16. curvy (=curvaceous)
17. demure (quiet and rather shy, usually in a way that you like and find appealing, and behave very correctly)
18. distraught (extremely worried, anxious or upset)
19. dowdy (wears dull or unfashionable clothes)
21. elegant (very beautiful and graceful)
22. expectant (pregnant)
23. flat-chested (has small breasts)
24. flighty (not responsible and likely to change activities, jobs, lovers, etc. frequently)
25. foxy (physically attractive, sexy)
26. frowsy (not very clean or tidy and smells bad)
27. frumpy=frumpish (unattractive)
28. girly (behaves in a silly way)
29. handsome (attractive in a strong healthy way)
30. leggy (long-legged)
31. luscious (very sexually attractive)
32. lush (voluptuously sensual in appearance or behavior)
33. matronly (fairly fat and no longer young, used to avoid saying this directly)
34. mountainous (very large in amount or size – in a figurative sense)
35. mousy (quiet and unattractive)
36. mumsy (with an old-fashioned appearance, like that of a traditional mother)
37. nubile (marriageable or sexually attractive)
38. petite (of small and dainty build)
39. plain (not beautiful)
40. pneumatic (having large breasts)
41. po-faced (having an unfriendly disapproving expression on your face)
42. pregnant (has a baby or babies developing in her body)
43. pretty (pleasant to look at, or attractive or charming in a delicate way); of a boy looks attractive in a way that is typical of a girl
44. randy (sexually excited and eager to have sex)
45. ravishing (very beautiful)
46 sassy (behaves in a way that is intended to be attractive to men)
47. sensual (interested in or making you think of physical pleasure, especially sexual pleasure)
48. sexless (frigid)
49. shapely (has an attractive shape)
50. sluttish (sexually promiscuous)
51. svelte (thin and graceful)
52. sylphlike (attractively thin and delicate)
53. sultry (makes other people feel strong sexual attraction to you)
54. tarty (vulgar, gaudy; promiscuous)
55. topless (not wearing any clothes on the upper part of her body, so that her breasts are bare)
56. vivacious (attractively energetic and enthusiastic)
57. voluptuous (has large breasts and a soft curved body)
58. well-endowed (has large breasts)
59. whorish (meaning characteristic of the behavior stereotypically ascribed to prostitutes)
60. willowy (graceful and thin)