| 词组 | male |
| 释义 | male Although there has been a long-continued controversy over the use of female (which see), the parallel term male has been virtually ignored. Flesch 1964, however, does not like male used as a noun of humans. His objection is similar to that made to female. But unless our evidence is missing something, this is not much of a problem. Male is almost exclusively used as an adjective. As a noun it is used, as you would expect, biologically and in other contexts where it is paired with female. • Terms like "pioneer," "farmer," and "settler" should clearly include females as well as males — Harper 1985 • ... followed by a singular pronoun when there is no question whether it is males or females that are being talked about —Evans 1957 It would seem to be a useful term when the age associations of man and boy need to be avoided, but we do not have evidence that it is much used this way. These are probably examples of such use: • She is a trained observer of hotels, domestic service and the predatory habits of the Italian male —British Book News, September 1954 • She is twenty, unmarried and pregnant... ; it is not clear what obscure male is responsible —Mary McCarthy, Occasional Prose, 1985 Once in a while it turns up where man might be expected: • ... in an age when the male doesn't even take off his hat or the woman her overcoat —James Thurber, letter, October 1936 You may not feel called upon to use the noun male very frequently except to pair it with female, but it is available for other uses if you want it. |
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