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female

/ˈfiː.meɪl/adjective, noun

female is spelled F-E-M-A-L-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 100 times per million words in written English, the 1,076th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, female means “Belonging to the sex which typically produces eggs (ova), or to the gender which is typically associated with it” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in female?

Letters6: F-E-M-A-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing100 times per million words; the 1,076th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is female?

Female appears 100 times per million words in written English, the 1,076th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce female?

  • /ˈfiː.meɪl/

Female has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-female.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of female

  • femaler comparative
  • more female comparative
  • femalest superlative
  • most female superlative
  • females plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does female mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Belonging to the sex which typically produces eggs (ova), or to the gender which is typically associated with it.

    female authors, the leading male and female artists, a female bird cooing at a male

  2. 2

    Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare feminine, womanly.)

    stereotypically female pastimes, an insect with typically female coloration

  3. 3

    Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.

    the female chromosome

  4. 4

    feminineFeminine; of the feminine grammatical gender. (a form of the feminine grammatical gender)

  5. 5

    Lacking the F factor, and able to receive DNA from another bacterium which does have this factor (a male).

  6. 6

    Having an internal socket, as in a connector or pipe fitting.

noun

  1. 1

    An animal of the sex that produces eggs.

  2. 2

    A human of feminine gender; a girl or woman.

  3. 3

    A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organ capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or fertilization; a pistillate plant.

  4. 4

    A bacterium which lacks the F factor, and is able to receive DNA from another bacterium which has that factor.

  5. 5

    A female connector, pipe fitting, etc.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate female?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of female: F.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Female in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfemelle, féminin (belonging to the sex that typically produces…)
Germanweiblich (belonging to the sex that typically produces…), Weib, Weibchen (one of the feminine sex or gender)
Portuguesefêmeo (1, 3), feminino (1, 2), mulheril, femeal, feminal, feminil (belonging to the sex that typically produces…)
Spanishfemenino, hembra, feminal (disused), femenil, femíneo, mujeril (belonging to the sex that typically produces…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does female come from?

From Middle English female, an alteration of Middle English femele, from Old French femele, femelle (“female”), from Medieval Latin fēmella (“a female”), from Latin fēmella (“a girl, a young female, a young woman”), diminutive of fēmina (“a woman”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after female