masculin

Masculin is a term used in French and in linguistics to designate the masculine gender. In languages with grammatical gender, nouns, determiners, and adjectives often belong to gender classes such as masculine and feminine, and sometimes neuter. The gender category helps govern agreement in the language, though it does not always align with natural or biological sex.

In French grammar, masculin is typically contrasted with féminin (feminine). When a noun is masculine, related words such as the definite article and adjectives take masculine forms. For example, le livre noir (the black book) uses the masculine article le and the masculine adjective noir, while la table noire uses the feminine forms. The masculine singular form is usually the base form of an adjective, with feminine often produced by adding an ending such as -e in many adjectives (though there are many irregularities and exceptions).

Across languages, the association of grammatical gender with natural gender varies. Some languages assign masculine to a large class of nouns irrespective of natural gender, while others show closer alignment with real-world gender, but with many exceptions and historical overlays.

Beyond grammar, masculin also appears in sociolinguistic contexts to discuss masculine identity and expression. In French, the related noun masculinité covers ideas about masculine norms, roles, and behavior, and discussions often address how language reflects or reinforces gender stereotypes and how gender-neutral terms are developed.