Gender \Gen"der\ (j[e^]n"d[~e]r), n. [OF. genre, gendre
         (with
   excrescent d.), F.genre, fr. L. genus, generis,
         birth,
   descent, race, kind, gender, fr. the root of
         genere, gignere,
   to beget, in pass., to be born, akin to
         E. kin. See Kin,
   and cf.
         Generate, Genre,
         Gentle, Genus.]
  
         [1913
         Webster]
   1. Kind; sort. [Obs.] "One gender of herbs."
         --Shak.
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   2. Sex, male or
         female.
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   Note: The use of the
         term gender to refer to the sex of an
         animal, especially a person, was once common, then fell
         into disuse as the term became used primarily for the
         distinction of grammatical declension forms in
         inflected words. In the late 1900's, the term again
         became used to refer to the sex of people, as a
         euphemism for the term sex,
         especially in discussions
         of laws and policies on equal treatment of sexes.
         Objections by prescriptivists that the term should be
         used only in a grammatical context ignored the earlier
         uses.
         [PJC]

   3. (Gram.) A classification of nouns, primarily
         according to
      sex; and secondarily according to some
         fancied or imputed
      quality associated with sex.
    
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            Gender is a grammatical distinction and applies to
            words only. Sex is natural distinction and applies
            to living objects.                    --R. Morris.
     
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   Note: Adjectives and pronouns are said
         to vary in gender when
         the form is varied according to the gender of the words
         to which they refer.
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