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男性 (nán xìng) — male (gender); a male person

Definition

男性 (nánxìng) is the formal/categorical noun for 'the male sex' — used in surveys, academic, and paired with 女性. 男人 is everyday 'man'; 男士 is a polite address; 雄性 is only for animals/plants.

noun
male (gender)a male person
Measure word · 个
Easily confused

Examples

  • 男性。
    Zhè ge bān yǒu èr shí gè nán xìng.
    There are twenty males in this class.
  • 男性。
    nán xìng Hé nǚ xìng yí yàng duō.
    There are as many males as females.
  • 男性。
    Nà wèi chuān lán yī fu de nán xìng shì wǒ de péng you.
    That male in blue clothes is my friend.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

男nánmale
性xìngsex

男 contributes male and 性 contributes sex or gender, giving the male sex.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

男 is made from 田, a field, and 力, strength. It shows a man working with strength in a field.

Open 男 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng性xìng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →
Appears in
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