Noun - Genders

Masculine Gender

A noun that denotes a male person/animal.
Examples: boy, lion, hero

Feminine Gender

A noun that denotes a female person/animal.
Examples: girl, lioness, heroine

Common Gender

A noun that denotes either a male or a female.
E.g. friend, servant, enemy, cousin, person, student, infant.

When such nouns are used in singular, we use these pronouns for them - his/he/him
Every student should complete his homework.
A person should behave with others the same way he wants others to behave with him.

Neuter Gender

A noun that denotes a thing that is neither male nor female (i.e., thing without life).
E.g. chair, cycle, house, tree.

Objects without life are often personified. We speak of them as if they were living beings and regard them as males or females.

Masculine Gender – used for objects known for strength and violence.
E.g. Sun, Time, Death, Summer, Winter
The sun provides his light to everyone without discrimination.

Feminine Gender – used for objects known for beauty, gentleness, and gracefulness.
E.g. Moon, Earth, Spring, Autumn, Nature, Peace, Hope, Charity.
Spring has brought with her a spectacle of greenery.

Why recognizing noun gender is necessary?

Noun gender differentiation is necessary for using appropriate pronouns in their place.

For example: dog - we can use it or he. (we will use he when the gender has to be emphasized)
cow - we can use it or she. (we will use she when the gender has to be emphasized)
body - we can use he, she or it. (we will use he/she when the gender has to be emphasized)

country - we can use it or she. (we will use she when country is personified)
(same goes for moon, nature, ship etc)
sun - we can use it or he. (we will use he when sun is personified)

Ways of forming the feminine of nouns

Using an entirely different word

Adding a syllable

Adding -ess

-ess is the commonest suffix used to form feminine nouns. We now use only this suffix to form new feminine nouns.

Sometimes -ess is added after dropping the vowel of the masculine ending:

In some cases the masculine noun can be changed a lot and then ‘ess’ is put at the end.

Adding -ine, -a, -trix, etc

Placing a word before or after

In some cases first or second word of compound masculine noun are changed.

In the following compound nouns, the second word has been changed:

In the following compound nouns, the first word has been changed:

Extra Books and Tools

If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.