Mannliga

Mannliga is a Scandinavian adjective meaning male or masculine, used to describe nouns that refer to male persons or to the male sex of animals. The form exists in several Scandinavian languages, with close but distinct inflection patterns.

In Swedish, manlig is the singular form and manliga is used for plural. For example, en manlig läkare means a male doctor, and manliga poliser means male police officers. In definite plural contexts, the noun carries a definite ending (for example, de manliga poliserna). The adjective generally precedes the noun and agrees with its number.

In Norwegian Bokmål, the corresponding forms are mannlig (singular) and mannlige (indefinite plural), with the definite plural formed by attaching a definite suffix to the noun (for example, de mannlige legene, meaning the male doctors). Like Swedish, the adjective appears before the noun and reflects number and definiteness.

In usage, mannliga is commonly employed in biology, medicine, and discussions of gender to specify the male sex of humans or animals. It is a neutral descriptive term and does not imply anything about gender identity beyond biological sex in most scientific or formal contexts. As with related adjectives, it is advisable to use it with care when referring to individuals, avoiding overly essentialist or stereotypical associations.

Etymology traces the term to the root for man, combined with a common adjectival suffix found in Scandinavian languages. Cross-linguistically, related forms appear as manlig/manlige (Swedish) and mannlig/mannlige (Norwegian), with Danish typically using mandlig/mandlige.