What is the gender of a noun?

Answer 1

In English, the gender of nouns are:

• gender specific noun for a male (king, father, cowboy, etc.)
• gender specific noun for a female (queen, aunt, waitress, etc.)
• common gender noun, a word for a male or a female (teacher, parent, friend, etc.)
• neuter noun, a word for something that has no gender (fork, street, hamburger, etc.)

The gender of a noun is a formal category in which it is found. It has nothing to do with sex. Many Indo-European languages have three genders, misleadingly called masculine, feminine and neuter, but some, like Japanese have many more. Gender difference requires different treatment of the word. A "feminine' word must be modified by adjectives having "feminine" endings, and have a "feminine" article - and in Slavic languages, a "feminine" verb. Where there is no distinction in adjective, articles or verb endings, as for example in English, there is no gender in the noun.

Answer 2

The gender of a noun refers to whether it is grammatically classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter in some languages. Each noun is assigned a gender that may affect other parts of the language such as articles and adjectives.