masculus
Latin
Alternative forms
- masclus (Vulgar Latin, proscribed)
- mascel
Etymology
Diminutive, from mās, marem (“male, man”) + -culus.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈmas.ku.lus/, [ˈmäs̠kʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmas.ku.lus/, [ˈmäskulus]
- Note: the /a/ of this word is presumed to be short as in the oblique stem of the base word, and not long as in the Nominative, since word-formation operates on the former.
Adjective
masculus (feminine mascula, neuter masculum); first/second-declension adjective
- male, masculine
- manly, virile
- Used of the larger and coarser varieties of plants or other natural products
- (engineering) a male connector
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | masculus | mascula | masculum | masculī | masculae | mascula | |
| Genitive | masculī | masculae | masculī | masculōrum | masculārum | masculōrum | |
| Dative | masculō | masculō | masculīs | ||||
| Accusative | masculum | masculam | masculum | masculōs | masculās | mascula | |
| Ablative | masculō | masculā | masculō | masculīs | |||
| Vocative | mascule | mascula | masculum | masculī | masculae | mascula | |
Noun
masculus m (genitive masculī); second declension
- a male (of humans or other animals)
Declension
Second-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | masculus | masculī |
| Genitive | masculī | masculōrum |
| Dative | masculō | masculīs |
| Accusative | masculum | masculōs |
| Ablative | masculō | masculīs |
| Vocative | mascule | masculī |
Derived terms
- masculīnus
Descendants
- Borrowings:
- → Italian: mascolo, masculo
- → Portuguese: másculo
- → Spanish: másculo
References
- “masculus” on page 1190 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
- “mâle” on Dictionnaire Littré – on www.littre.org
- AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1078: “il maschio e la femmina” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
Further reading
- “masculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “masculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- masculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette