Learn English – What’s the most common way to say “male chauvinist?”

single-word-requests

Unless "male chauvinist" is the most common way. For example, in Spanish we just say "machista." I'm looking for something short and common, like that. I checked on Google but the only thing I found was that: male chauvinist. The other alternative is sexist. But that's a little different. The word should mean: the belief that men are superior or more important than women.

Any other suggestions?

(e.g., For instance, to be used in a sentence like: "Your ideology sounds a bit male chauvinist to me).

Best Answer

The most common way to say "male chauvinist" is in fact male chauvinist.

But in your sentence, I would change it into an adjective:

Your ideology sounds a bit male chauvinistic to me.

Addendum (in response to comment)

It has been suggested in a comment that the word male could be omitted. Although the word chauvinist is (in my experience) most commonly heard in connection with male chauvinism, the meaning of the word is not actually restricted to that usage.

The following are definitions of chauvinism / chauvinist from three standard dictionaries:

chauvinism noun Chambers
derog an unreasonable belief, especially if aggressively expressed, in the superiority of one's own nation, sex, etc.
chauvinist noun, adj.
chauvinistic adj.
chauvinistically adverb
ETYMOLOGY: 19c: named after Nicolas Chauvin, a fanatically patriotic soldier under Napoleon.

chauvinist ODO
noun
a person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism.
- a person displaying excessive or prejudiced support for their own cause, group, or sex:
- she wrote off all the local males as hopeless chauvinists
adjective
relating to or characteristic of a chauvinist:
- a chauvinist rejection of foreign interference

chauvinism M-W
1 : excessive or blind patriotism — compare jingoism
2 : undue partiality or attachment to a group or place to which one belongs or has belonged
3 : an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex; also : behavior expressive of such an attitude
— chauvinist noun or adjective
— chauvinistic adjective
— chauvinistically adverb

It will be noted that the first definition in all three dictionaries relates to patriotism, rather than sexism. Indeed the word is derived from the name of a fanatically patriotic Napoleonic soldier.

Therefore, despite that fact that modern usage of the term seems primarily to relate to male sexism, it cannot always be assumed that that is the case. Indeed, there is nothing in the cited definitions to prevent the word being used to refer to female sexism. Having said that, if it is otherwise clear from the context that it is being used in reference, not only to sexism, but to male sexism, then, of course, the qualifier "male" could be omitted.

Related Topic