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PlainSpell

gender

gen·der/ˈd͡ʒɛndɚ/noun, verb, adjective

gender is spelled G-E-N-D-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (gen·der). It appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gender means “Sex (a category, either male or female, into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gender is genders or gendèrs.

How many letters and syllables are in gender?

Letters6: G-E-N-D-E-R
Syllables2: gen·der
In writing39 times per million words; the 2,523rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is gender?

Gender appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd 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 gender?

  • British /ˈd͡ʒɛndə/
  • US /ˈd͡ʒɛndɚ/
  • Australia /ˈd͡ʒendə/

As a noun (“An Indonesian musical instrument resembling a xylophone…”): /ɡənˈdɛː(r)/, /ˈd͡ʒɛndə/, /ˈd͡ʒɛndɚ/.

Gender has 2 syllables, split gen·der in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-gender.wav, En-us-gender.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with gender?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as gender from its last stressed vowel (/ɛndəɹ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of gender

  • genders plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • g.
  • gendering participle, present
  • gendered participle, past
  • more gender comparative
  • most gender superlative
  • gendèr
  • gendèrs plural

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

What does gender mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteClass; kind.

  2. 2

    Sex (a category, either male or female, into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their species).

    the gene is activated in both genders

  3. 3

    Identification as a man, a woman, or something else, and association with a (social) role or set of behavioral and cultural traits, clothing, etc; a category to which a person belongs on this basis. (Compare gender role, gender identity.)

  4. 4

    A division of nouns and pronouns (and sometimes of other parts of speech) into masculine or feminine, and sometimes other categories like neuter or common, and animate or inanimate.

  5. 5

    Synonym of voice (“particular way of inflecting or conjugating verbs”).

  6. 6

    The quality which distinguishes connectors, which may be male (fitting into another connector) and female (having another connector fit into it), or genderless or androgynous (capable of fitting together with another connector of the same type).

  7. 7

    An Indonesian musical instrument resembling a xylophone, used in gamelan music.

verb

  1. 1

    To assign a gender to (a person); to perceive as having a gender; to address using terms (pronouns, nouns, adjectives...) that express a certain gender.

  2. 2

    To perceive (a thing) as having characteristics associated with a certain gender, or as having been authored by someone of a certain gender.

  3. 3

    archaicTo engender.

    […] being a stranger to those restrictions which were afterwards laid on his posterity by the Mosaic law, and which gendered a servile frame of spirit.

  4. 4

    archaicobsoleteTo breed.

adjective

  1. 1

    Evoking positive feelings regarding gender, like gender euphoria or gender envy.

    This outfit I'm wearing feels gender as hell. It's incredible that I get to look this hot.

noun

as gendèr
  1. 1

    Alternative form of gender (“an Indonesian musical instrument resembling a xylophone, used in gamelan music”).

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

How do you abbreviate gender?

Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of gender: Gend., g., gen..

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

Gender in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgenre (division, class, kind), sexe (biological sex), genrer (to perceive or address as a specific gender)
GermanGeschlecht (division, class, kind), Gender, soziales Geschlecht (identification as a man, a woman, or something…)
Portuguesegénero, gênero (division, class, kind), sexo (biological sex)
Spanishsexo, género (biological sex), generizar, generificar (to perceive or address as a specific gender)

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 gender come from?

From Middle English gendre, borrowed from Old French gendre, borrowed from Latin genere (“type, kind”). Doublet of genre and genus. The verb developed after the noun. Displaced native Old English hād (“sex, gender”).

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

What to look up after gender