Gender(s) of letters

elroy

elroy

Moderator: EHL, Arabic, Hebrew, German(-Spanish)
Chicago, IL
US English, Palestinian Arabic bilingual
In Arabic, the word for "letter" as in A, B, C,... (حرف) is masculine, but the names of the letters themselves are feminine.

In German, the word for "letter" ("Buchstabe") is masculine, but the names of the letters are neuter.

What is it like in other languages with gender?
 
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    • In Swedish "bokstav" (letter) is common gender (utrum or N-genus) en bokstav, and A, B, C are neuter gender (neutrum or T-genus) ett A, ett B, ett C...

    Added: English used 'bookstaff' before they began using the word 'letter'.
    bookstaff - Wiktionary
     
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    Ιn Greek the name for letter, «γράμμα» [ˈɣrama] is neuter < Classical deverbative 3rd declension neuter noun «γράμμα» grắmmă (nom. sing.), «γράμματος» grắmmătŏs (gen. sing.), «γράμματα» grắmmătă (nom. pl.) --> lit. scratching(s), later, that which is written, letter, (communication) letter < Classical v. «γράφω» grắpʰō (> MoGr «γράφω» [ˈɣrafo̞] --> to write).

    As is the name of each letter in the alphabet, «το άλφα» [ˌt̠o̞.ˈalfa] --> the alpha, «το χι» [ˌto̞.ˈçi] --> the khi, «το ωμέγα» [ˌt̠o̞.o̞ˈme̞ɣa] --> the omega etc.
    «Το» [t̠o̞] is the neuter definite article in the nominative singular < Classical neuter definite article «τὸ» tò.
     
    Cymraeg/Welsh

    llythyren     (n.f.) '(a) letter (of the alphabet)'
    â <a>, bi/by <b>, èc/cy <c>, èch/ỳch <ch> ... (n.f.), but do not follow usual mutation rules and are not mutated.
     
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    In Russian, буква (búkva) "letter" is feminine.
    The names of the letters may be either neuter (more typically, especially in colloquial speech) or feminine.
    Большая Н (bol'sháya En) - "big (also coll. capital) N"
    Большое Н (bol'shóye En) - id.
     
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    Czech: jedno b, jedno k or jedno béčko, jedno káčko -- so it is neuter
    Hungarian: no gender 😁
     
    In Romanian, the word letter is feminine while letter names are both masculine and neutral (both versions are acceptable)

    o literă, două litere

    un A, două A-uri (neuter)
    un B, două B-uri

    un A, doi de A (masculine)
    un B, doi de B

    I think we might be doing the switch depending on context and ease of pronunciation
     
    You know, I hesitated before writing that. I'm certain that's how we all say it, and that's definitely what my Romanian teacher said when she corrected our misspellings, but not whether it's actually "correct" -- though the dictionary mentions both genders, it doesn't offer a sample of the correct masculine plural form. It does mention that it's inflexible, so you can't give it the usual plural suffix, which would be "-i".

    un A, două A-uri literally means "one A, two A's", just as you'd say "one chair, two chairs".

    un A, doi de A would mean "two of A" (two of this specific item). "De" is, among many other things, a connector we occasionally use between nouns and their determiner (in this case, a cardinal number).

    doi A, trei A -- just doesn't seem right.

    If someone asked me for a longer number in which there were three 0's for example, such as 4345000521 I would say either "trei zerouri" (neuter version) or "trei de zero" (masculine version), never "trei zero".
     
    In English, letters of the alphabet, like anything that is not male or female, are neutral, but at any rate, although we have masculine/feminine/neuter pronouns, we don't have gender-linked articles (or adjectives) — everything and everybody is "a/an" (indefinite article, depending on pronunciation) and "the" (definite article). It's the same with the pronoun "one(s)". Easy-peasy, right?
     
    ain'ttranslationfun? said:
    In English, letters of the alphabet, like anything that is not male or female, are neutral, but at any rate, although we have masculine/feminine/neuter pronouns, we don't have gender-linked articles (or adjectives) — everything and everybody is "a/an" (indefinite article, depending on pronunciation) and "the" (definite article). It's the same with the pronoun "one(s)". Easy-peasy, right?
    Click to expand...
    English is the same as Dutch in this case, just replace d with th :D
     
    This (the original) is a very interesting question. I'll cover Spanish and Hindi.

    In Spanish, the word for 'letter', 'la letra' is feminine, and so are all the letters themselves.

    In Hindi, I think that the words for 'letter', 'अक्षर' and 'वर्ण', both are masculine. I think the letters themselves are also masculine (can someone confirm this).
     
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    El Ganador said:
    This (the original) is a very interesting question. I'll cover Spanish and Hindi.

    The word for 'letter', 'la letra' is feminine, and so are all the letters themselves.
    Click to expand...
    But, in French, the word lettre is feminine, but the letters themselsves are masculine. The same in Portuguese.
     
    Terio said:
    But, in French, the word lettre is feminine, but the letters themselsves are masculine. The same in Portuguese.
    Click to expand...
    I edited my post to specify Spanish.

    Interesting, I wonder what the gender of letters is in Latin, the language from which all Spanish, French, and Portuguese came from.
     
    In fact, in French, the gender changed.

    There was a time when letters whose name ends by a vowell were masculine while those whose name ends by a consonant were feminine :

    In the three first editions of the Dictionnaire de l'académie (1694, 1718,1740) , the appear this way :

    Masculine :
    un a [a], un b [be], un c [se], un d [de], un e [ə], un g [ʒe], un i un j [ʒi], un k [ka], un o [o], un p [pe], un q [ky], un t [te] un u [y], un ve [ve], un w [dubləve].

    Feminine :
    une f [ɛf], une h [aʃ], une l [ɛl], une m [ɛm], une n [ɛn], une r [ɛr], une s [ɛs].

    Exceptions : un iks [iks], un y [igrɛk], un zed [zɛd].
     
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    Terio said:
    Exceptions : un iks [iks], un y [igrɛk], un zed [zɛd].
    Click to expand...
    If we restate the rule as "un" before names that start with a consonant; and "une", with a vowel, unless the whole word is comprised of this very vowel; and then notice that the names of y and w are derived from those of i and v, correspondingly; then we'll have just one exception, x, and a very meaningful rule which refers to the perceived "character" of the letter, either masculine or feminine. It's either a struggle into the unknown from a hard beginning, or a perfection of the known with touches of harmony, available already at the beginning.
     
    Fascinating thread and since I'm fascinated by Romance languages, let's make a nice summary here.

    French, masculine: un A blanc
    Portuguese, masculine: um A branco

    Italian, feminine: una A bianca
    Spanish, feminine: una A blanca
    Catalan, feminine: una A blanca

    Romanian, maculine+neutral

    Latin 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
     
    Encolpius said:
    Fascinating thread and since I'm fascinated by Romance languages, let's make a nice summary here.

    French, masculine: un A blanc
    Portuguese, masculine: um A branco

    Italian, feminine: una A bianca
    Spanish, feminine: una A blanca
    Catalan, feminine: una A blanca

    Romanian, maculine+neutral

    Latin 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
    Click to expand...

    Nice — A+!
     
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