Question

Are there examples or a list of gender-specific nouns?

I know English is not a gender-specific language, still, my lecturer is always finding more and more examples... Any help?

Answer 1

See explanation

Explanation:

You are right in that English is not a gender-specific language like the way languages such as Spanish or French are (with masculine and feminine nouns). Nouns like "milk" and "apple" are not feminine in English as they are in Spanish.

However, there are certain words that can only apply to females or males (things like titles):

princess (you don't call a male a princess)

queen (females only)

baron (males only)

king (males only)

prince (males only)

grandmother (females only)

There are probably online lists of these words. These words do not indicate that English is a gender-specific language, but they do pertain to certain genders.

See also:
http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/gender-specific_noun.htm
Partial Listing here:
http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-masculine-feminine.php