Where does “female” come from?
female (Middle English) comes from Middle English femelle, from Old French femelle, from Medieval Latin femella, from Latin femella, from Latin -lus, from Proto-Italic -elos, from Proto-Indo-European -e-lós, from Proto-Indo-European -lós — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
Ancestry of “female”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | femelle | — |
| 2 | Old French | femelle | female |
| 3 | Medieval Latin | femella | a female; girl, young woman; vocative singular of... |
| 4 | Latin | femella | girl, young woman; vocative singular of femella;... |
| 5 | Latin | -lus | Alternative form of -ulus; diminutive suffix |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |