gender-specific
Meaning
Relating or applicable only to people of a particular gender.
Structure
Usage
The school's old uniform policy was gender-specific, requiring skirts for girls and trousers for boys.
Some medical symptoms can be gender-specific, appearing more frequently in one sex than the other.
The toy manufacturer decided to move away from gender-specific packaging and marketing.
Etymology
The term 'gender-specific' is a modern English compound adjective formed by combining the noun 'gender' with the adjective 'specific'. 'Gender' originates from the Latin 'genus', meaning 'kind' or 'type', which evolved in Old French to 'gendre', referring to a grammatical or social classification. 'Specific' derives from the Late Latin 'specificus', itself from 'species' (a particular sort) and the suffix '-ficus' (making). The compound logically fuses these concepts: 'specific' restricts the scope of 'gender', creating a term that denotes something applicable to or characteristic of one particular gender category, excluding others. This construction follows a common pattern in English for creating precise, descriptive terminology in fields like sociology, biology, and marketing.
Analysis
- gender: From Latin 'genus' (birth, race, kind). In this compound, it functions as a noun meaning 'the state of being male or female'. - specific: From Latin 'specificus' (constituting a species or kind). In this compound, it functions as an adjective meaning 'clearly defined or limited to a particular category'.