You can picture male as one of the two sides of the sex divide — the side that, in living things, contributes to making new life but does not carry the babies or lay the eggs. From this single biological picture everything else fans out: it stretches to 'belonging to men/boys' for people, to plants on the same side of the divide, and even — by pure shape — to a plug whose part sticks OUT to fit into a hole.
From the word’s history
From Latin masculus 'male' (diminutive of mas 'a male'), via Old French masle/male. The plug sense comes by analogy of shape, not from the root.
源自拉丁文 masculus（雄性，mas「雄」的指小形），經古法文 masle/male 進入英語。注意它和 mail（信件）只是拼法湊巧相近，毫無關係。插頭「公頭」那個意思是後來靠形狀打的比方，不在字根裡。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'male (adj.)'
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料16 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Malename詞源 1
- 1
A surname.
Malename詞源 3
- 1
A Madang language of Papua New Guinea.
maleadj/meɪl/
- 1
Belonging to the sex which typically produces sperm, or to the gender which is typically associated with it.
- male writers
- the leading male and female singers
- 2
Characteristic of this sex/gender. (Compare masculine, manly.)
- stereotypically male interests
- an insect with typically male coloration
- 3
Tending to lead to or regulate the development of sexual characteristics typical of this sex.
- the male chromosome
- like testes, ovaries also produce testosterone and some other male hormones
- 4
Having the F factor; able to impart DNA into another bacterium which does not have the F factor (a female).
- Furthermore, male bacteria with fi + R factors, which inhibit the function of F (fi fertility inhibition) (Watanabe et al., 1964a), cannot form specific cell pairs at high frequencies. On the contrary, the formation of[…]
- Male bacteria having the sex factor, also known as the F or "fertility" factor, are termed P if the sex factor exists extrachromosomally. F+ bacteria can only conjugate with F, the female counterparts, which do not possess the F [factor].
- 5
Of instruments, tools, or connectors: designed to fit into or penetrate a female counterpart, as in a connector, pipe fitting or laboratory glassware.
- Male adapter connects female pipe threads to polyethylene cold-water pipe; [...] female flare coupling connects male pipe threads to flared copper or plastic;
malenoun/meɪl/
- 1
One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:male.
- 2
One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
- 3
One of the male (masculine) sex or gender.
- 4
A bacterium which has the F factor.
- During mating, F+ male bacteria transfer the F factor to the recipient females, transforming them into F+ males. Males also retain a copy of their F factor for themselves (left). When Hfr (or high frequency recombination) males mate[…]
- In this process, one bacterium designated the male bacterium transfers its DNA into the female bacterium. Bacteria are determined to be male or female by a small piece of DNA, called F-plasmid, or sex factor. Bacteria with this small piece of DNA are labeled as males, and bacteria that do not have this factor are considered females. […] Nevertheless, in addition to a small piece of DNA, male bacteria have some unique characteristics. They can make a special protrusion on their surface, called F-pilus. Pilae (plural for pilus) are hair-like structures that cover the[…]
- 5
A male connector, pipe fitting, etc.
- Work another rubber washer over the threads of the male adapter that is now sticking out of the bucket. […] cut out with an X-acto knife, then thread the female fittings to the males.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- medium-altitude long-endurance
- Maale
- the masculine grammatical gender
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。