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romniner t1_j9l2fub wrote

Reply to comment by EPJ327 in Natural bodies are for poor females by ShadesOfPoods

From the meriam-webster dictionary, under "female" usage as a noun.

In the 14th century, female appeared in English with such spellings as femel, femelle, and female. The word comes from the Latin femella, meaning “young woman, girl,” which in turn is based on femina, meaning “woman.” In English, the similarity in form and sound between the words female and male led people to use only the female spelling. This closeness also led to the belief that female comes from or is somehow related to male. However, apart from the influence of male on the modern spelling of female, there is no link between the origins of the two words.

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LordAvan t1_j9mo2f7 wrote

I don't see how this response is relevant. Their point was that the word "female" in the OP is used in an irregular, potentially chauvinistic, way. The etymology of the word is irrelevant to how it was used in this case.

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romniner t1_j9msu7v wrote

I directly responded to EPJ327 having asserted that using female as a noun was maybe? derogatory rather than it being the literal root and origin of the word.

As a noun it simply means woman or girl.

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LordAvan t1_j9muw52 wrote

Yes, that is it's literal meaning, but the point is that it is uncommon to use female as a noun in reference to humans except when speaking clinically or when chauvinists use it as dehumanizing language. The word "women" is the much preferred option by most women, so the use of "females" in this context suggests that OP may have been speaking derogatorily.

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romniner t1_j9mv694 wrote

Usage is mostly cultural rather than derogatory. It's safer to take people at the meaning of their words rather than inferring a meaning that isn't justified.

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interesting_square t1_j9n4tm9 wrote

Plenty of non-native speakers on Reddit who would miss colloquialisms like the appropriate use of the word woman vs female

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