female and feminine; male and masculine

Female and male refer to the sex of people, animals and plants.

• A female fox is called a vixen.
• A male duck is called a drake.

Feminine and masculine are used for qualities and behaviour that are felt to be typical of men or women.

• She has a very masculine laugh.
• It was a very feminine bathroom.

Feminine and masculine are used for grammatical forms in some languages.

• The word for ‘moon’ is feminine in French and masculine in German.