Learn English – “Gentleman” is to “male” as what is to “female”
analogygrammatical-gendersingle-word-requests
For males, it's gentleman; and for females?
Best Answer
Gentlemen is to male as lady is to female. Ladies and gentlemen is used to address the audience during a speech, and ladies and gents are used on the signs of public toilets for women and men respectively.
The usage note under blond in the NOAD entry is explicit:
The spellings blonde and blond correspond to the feminine and masculine forms in French. Although the distinction is usually retained in Britain, American usage since the 1970s has generally preferred the gender-neutral blond. The adjective blonde may still refer to a woman’s (but not a man’s) hair color, though use of the noun risks offense ( : See that blonde over there?): the offense arises from the fact that the color of hair is not the person. The adjective applied to inanimate objects (wood, beer) is typically spelled blond.
“Guys” can be used in English as gender neutral to refer to a group of mixed gender.
You will even hear women refer to other women as “guys.”
The closest linguistic equivalent with a feminine tilt would be “gals.” “Guys and gals” is a rather informal variant of “ladies and gentlemen.” (Note the reverse order.)
Edit: As noted by @kitukwfyer in the question comments, it is possible for “gals” to be derogatory when used by itself so be careful. It’s not likely to be a problem used in the pairing above. Used carefully it’s probably safe, but used by itself it could be heard as mockery.
Saying the following is unlikely to offend anyone:
“The gals talked in the kitchen while the guys went out to see Fred’s new truck.”
But walking up to a couple women on a street corner and saying this might get a strange reaction:
“Excuse me gals, where is the grocery store?”
Saying this to a couple girls might make them doubt you:
“Hey gals come with me.”
But if you are explaining some game instructions and say the following it’s likely to be fine:
“Alright, guys on this side of the room, gals on the other.”
Best Answer
Gentlemen is to male as lady is to female. Ladies and gentlemen is used to address the audience during a speech, and ladies and gents are used on the signs of public toilets for women and men respectively.