+_Gender_ is that modification of a noun or pronoun which denotes sex+.
+The _Masculine Gender_ denotes the male sex+.
+The _Feminine Gender_ denotes the female sex+.
+The _Neuter Gender_ denotes want of sex+.
Gender Forms.
No English nouns have distinctive neuter forms, but a lew have different
forms to distinguish the masculine from the feminine.
The masculine is distinguished from the feminine in three ways:--
1st. By a difference in the ending of the words.
2d. By different words in the compound names.
3d. By using words wholly or radically different.
_Ess_ is the most common ending for feminine nouns. [Footnote: The suffix
_ess_ came into the English language from the Norman-French. It displaced
the feminine termination of the mother-tongue (A. S. _estre_, old English
_ster_). The original meaning of _ster_ is preserved in _spinster_. _Er_
(A. S. _ere_) was originally a masculine suffix; but it now generally
denotes an agent without reference to sex; as, _read-er, speak-er._]
+Direction+.--_Form the feminine of each of the following masculine nouns
by adding e s s :--_
Author, baron, count, deacon, giant, god (see Rule 3, Lesson 127), heir,
host, Jew, lion, patron, poet, prince (see Rule 1, Lesson 127), prior,
prophet, shepherd, tailor, tutor.
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