maskulinem

Maskulinem is a term used in linguistics to denote the masculine grammatical gender in languages that have grammatical gender. In many grammar traditions, the masculine class is labeled maskulinum in Latin or Maskulinum in German, while English typically uses the term masculine or masculine gender. The concept applies to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and determiners that participate in gender agreement.

In languages with grammatical gender, nouns are categorized into one or more gender classes; the masculine class is one of them. The gender often reflects semantics (male beings) but can also be lexical or historical, and it does not always align with biological sex. For example, in German the noun der Mann is masculine, while das Mädchen is neuter due to its diminutive form, illustrating that gender assignment is not always predictable from meaning.

Adjectives and determiners typically agree in gender with their associated noun, so the form of modifiers changes when used with masculine nouns. Gender systems vary across languages: some languages have only two genders (masculine and feminine), others include neuter, and some assign gender to inanimate nouns in ways that do not correlate with natural gender.

Etymology traces the term to Latin masculinus, from mas- “man” and -inus. The English word masculine derives from this root; maskulinum or Maskulinum are standard labels in Latin- and German-language grammars. In English, however, maskulinem as a standalone term is uncommon; the standard references usually use “masculine gender” or the specific labels maskulinum/maskulinum in their respective languages.

See also: grammatical gender; masculine; feminine; neuter; noun class.