In the past, "breast" used to be applicable to both male and female chests, but is generally only gender neutral nowadays when used in certain contexts, such as "breast meat" or "breastplate". Why and when did this change of meaning occur?
Learn English – Why and when did “breast” become gender-specific
meaningsemantic-shift
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The Patrician, Lord Vetinari:
'I shall deal with the matter momentarily,' he said. It was a good word. It always made people hesitate. They were never quite sure whether he meant he'd deal with it now, or just deal with it briefly.
And no-one ever dared ask.
Guards! Guards! - Sir Terry Pratchett
I have actually seen witch used in a male sense as well.
If we look at etymonline, it gives the following definitions:
Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress," in later use especially "a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits and to be able by their cooperation to perform supernatural acts," fem. of Old English wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic," from verb wiccian "to practice witchcraft" (compare Low German wikken, wicken "to use witchcraft," wikker, wicker "soothsayer").
(note that the entry is much longer and that the origins are actually not very clear!)
early 15c., "philosopher, sage," from Middle English wys "wise" (see wise (adj.)) + -ard. Compare Lithuanian zynyste "magic," zynys "sorcerer," zyne "witch," all from zinoti "to know." The ground sense is perhaps "to know the future." The meaning "one with magical power, one proficient in the occult sciences" did not emerge distinctly until c.1550, the distinction between philosophy and magic being blurred in the Middle Ages. As a slang word meaning "excellent" it is recorded from 1922.
There seems to have been, based on the assumed origins, a difference between "good magic" linked to knowledge and wisdom for wizard, and "bad magic" linked to "heathen practices".
It seems far-fetched to actually take wizard simply as a male version of witch and vice-versa. The etymonline entry for witch, as well as the OED (thank you Peter Shor) show that the male version of wicce was wicca. They were people involved in witchcraft, magic — supernatural things, rather than wisdom (wizard).
They seem to denote similar but different occupations, one of which became mainly associated with man, the other with women.
About the negative connotations that surround the "female" version... yes, that is sexist. And this is a very common occurrence in (many) language(s). Even though (and I am glad) this is often frowned upon by many people nowadays, and many speakers tend to avoid making distinctions between male and female practitioners of the same profession, in the past it was very common to see a clear (quality) distinction between the male and female versions.
Even nowadays, if one reads these lines:
John is a secretary.
Mary is a secretary.
There will be plenty of people assuming that John sits on a board or a committee, while Mary is a personal assistant. (The distinction is even "worse" in languages that use a distinct version of the word, like in Dutch "secretaris" and "secretaresse" — the latter is grammatically the female version, but in reality denotes a different job!)
Compare also "steward" to "stewardess".
It is a simple fact that language exhibits sexist (and sometimes racist and otherwise discriminatory) tendencies. That may be unfortunate, but it should be hardly surprising.
Best Answer
In Old English the word bréost was considered a neuter gender word. Before that it was considered a dual and carried with it an implied feminine. You will see it spelled "brest" sometimes in old texts and that spelling carries the dual. Since the late 18th century or so, however, "breast" can be either neuter or feminine depending on context whereas "breasts" carries only the feminine.