Basic Details
Word: Female
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A person or animal of the sex that can give birth to young or lay eggs. As an adjective, female describes a woman, a girl or such an animal.
Antonyms: male
How to Spell Female
Syllables: fe - male
Tricky part: The second part is spelt exactly like male. Students often write mail, as in a letter, or drop the final e.
Watch out for: femail, femal, femaile
Memory tip: Write male first, then put fe in front of it: fe + male. A female is not a letter in the post, so never write mail.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The female peacock, called a peahen, has dull brown feathers.
Example 2: Our school cricket team now has three female coaches.
Example 3: The vet said the stray puppy we rescued is a female.
Fun Fact
Female is not actually built from male. It comes from the Latin femella, a young woman, through the French femelle; English speakers changed the ending to -male because the two words were so often used together.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The forest guard explained that the oldest femail elephant leads the whole herd, guiding the younger members towards water during the long, dry summer months.
a) summer
b) explained
c) guiding
d) femail
Show answer
d) femail. The second half of female is spelt like male; mail is something the postman brings.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of 'female' as it is used in the sentence:
Only the female mosquito bites, because she needs blood to develop her eggs.
a) male
b) adult
c) womanly
d) feminine
Show answer
a) male. Feminine and womanly lean the same way as female; male is the true opposite.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. lisence 2. female 3. sergant 4. tresspass
a) a person or animal of the sex that can give birth to young or lay eggs
b) to enter someone's land without permission
c) an officer of middle rank in the army or police
d) an official paper that allows you to do something
Show answer
a) a person or animal of the sex that can give birth to young or lay eggs. Sergeant hides an e after the g, licence has a c, and trespass has one s in the middle; female is untouched.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is a female horse called?
a) stallion
b) foal
c) mare
d) colt
Show answer
c) mare
2. In a lion pride, the females do most of the ____.
a) roaring at night
b) growing manes
c) hunting
d) sleeping in trees
Show answer
c) hunting
