The only English adjective with a gender split

[ErikB]

This is a little gem that was taught to me many years ago by a professor of English when I was in Europe in school. A rather fascinating subject that I am grateful that I retained over the years.

It is something that has become a literary pet peeve of mine and in the same way that I judge people by the manner in which they speak, I judge the strength of a writer (among other tell tale signs) by their ability or inability to spell and use this word in the correct context.

The word is Blond/Blonde.

Now this is the ONLY word in English that is spelled differently depending on the gender of the person that the hair colour is describing.

Blond = male.
Blonde = female.

An easy way to remember if ever in doubt is that the word "female" has an extra e.

This word is often misspelled by authors and the slip is often printed by editors that are unaware of the gender distinction.

Do yourself a favor as an author and use the word properly. It will set you apart for those who do not realize that this is not some petty distinction between one type of English such as UK vs. US.

Wrong:
Ken pushed his long blonde bangs from his eyes to observe the enemy.

Correct:
Ken pushed his long blond bangs from his eyes to observe the enemy.

Wrong:
Barbara had a beautiful sheen to her blond tresses that caught the last rays of dying light.

Correct:
Barbara had a beautiful sheen to her blonde tresses that caught the last rays of dying light.

Many people are oblivious to this fact about the word Blond/Blonde. But those in the know will have that much more respect for you as a writer if you ensure that you don't just slap in whatever spelling you normally go with regardless of the gender of your subject.

Best of luck with your writing folks. Cheers!

 

[Ursa major]

...that is spelled differently depending on the gender of the person that the hair colour is describing

It also depends on those writing the word knowing that there is a difference... the number of writers who do know this should, with any luck, increase now that you've let them know.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

fiancé / fiancée

 

[ErikB]

fiancé / fiancée

French rooted words used in English. Not original English words.

 

[ErikB]

It also depends on those writing the word knowing that there is a difference... the number of writers who do know this should, with any luck, increase now that you've let them know.

Fingers crossed. Cheers!

 

[Vertigo]

What about words that use 'ess' endings, both forms appear in the dictionary:
Waiter/waitress
Shepherd/shepherdess
Surely these are all valid English words?
I think possibly the distinction here is that blond/blonde is maybe the only adjective that has a gender separation.

 

[ErikB]

What about words that use 'ess' endings, both forms appear in the dictionary:
Waiter/waitress
Shepherd/shepherdess
Surely these are all valid English words?
I think possibly the distinction here is that blond/blonde is maybe the only adjective that has a gender separation.

Precisely...

However bear in mind that adding a descriptive to separate gender makes the words separate words. So for example hero vs heroine are masculine and feminine. But they are not altered spellings of the same word.

Adding a prefix or sufix to the word to change the gender tense also changes the actual word such as actor vs actress if we go by your example.

 

[Vertigo]

Hmm I'm still a little sceptical. I'm no linguist but it seems to me to be a little pedantic to say that actor and actress are two different words but blond and blonde are the same word. A quick browse of the web turns a number of references to blond(e) being one of the few adjectives in English that still retain separate male and female forms. Others mentioned are a little more esoteric like a professor emeritus or emerita. You might say that is a Latin derivation, but blond(e) is a French derivation; in fact most of modern English is derived from other languages.

 

[VinceK]

Quick check in my book. Fifteen occurrences of blonde haired women and two of blond haired men.

 

[ErikB]

Quick check in my book. Fifteen occurrences of blonde haired women and two of blond haired men.

Well done!

 

[ErikB]

Hmm I'm still a little sceptical. I'm no linguist but it seems to me to be a little pedantic to say that actor and actress are two different words but blond and blonde are the same word. A quick browse of the web turns a number of references to blond(e) being one of the few adjectives in English that still retain separate male and female forms. Others mentioned are a little more esoteric like a professor emeritus or emerita. You might say that is a Latin derivation, but blond(e) is a French derivation; in fact most of modern English is derived from other languages.

Well according to linguistic historians around 70% of modern English is rooted in Old Norse. But regardless of derivation, the point of the thread is to alert writers that there are two gender spelling distinctions for Blond or Blonde.

 

[Dave]

Quick check in my book. Fifteen occurrences of blonde haired women and two of blond haired men.

Are you rewriting The Midwich Cuckoos?

 

[VinceK]

Are you rewriting The Midwich Cuckoos?

Well, I'll be damned! How did you guess?

 

[farntfar]

French rooted words used in English. Not original English words.

Unfortunately, I fear, with this statement you have just shot yourself in the foot.
The OED speaks of the origin of the word as being Middle English from French.
Modern French as well presumably as Middle French (?) has the same gender difference, (Un blond, une blonde), which presumably discounts it as well.

 

[ErikB]

Unfortunately, I fear, with this statement you have just shot yourself in the foot.
The OED speaks of the origin of the word as being Middle English from French.
Modern French as well presumably as Middle French (?) has the same gender difference, (Un blond, une blonde), which presumably discounts it as well.

I'll get the bandages. LOL.

Cheers!

P.S. It remains the main point of my thread to add the "e" if you are writing about a female and omit it for a male.

 

[ErikB]

Unfortunately, I fear, with this statement you have just shot yourself in the foot.
The OED speaks of the origin of the word as being Middle English from French.
Modern French as well presumably as Middle French (?) has the same gender difference, (Un blond, une blonde), which presumably discounts it as well.

Actually you are mistaken. I just checked and if you are referencing the OED as Oxford English Dictionary then you are quoting one reference source without checking others.

The OED Online Etymology Dictionary is extremely broad in its various definitions of the origin of the word including French, Latin, Old English, Frankish, Germanic, Italian, Teutonic, Spanish, as well as Medieval Latin. The root source varying depending on whom you reference.

Don't worry. I have bandages for your foot as well. Please put down the gun. I tossed mine. LOL.

Cheers!

 

[Ursa major]

in fact most of modern English is derived from other languages

Even my blond hair is derived from what was once red hair....

 

[Phyrebrat]

It seems moot if you use the word 'bangs' in a sentence describing men's hair - I always thought bangs were a part of a female's hairstyle. Do they apply to men, too?

pH

 

[ErikB]

Even my blond hair is derived from what was once red hair....

So true.

In the viking era blond/blonde hair was all part of what was considered red hair. It encompassed bleach blond to honey blond to strawberry blond to orange red to red to auburn.

The Swedish vikings that made their way across the rivers of what is now modern Russian as well as former Baltic satellites that were then referred to as Courland saw these Scandinavian explorers and warriors and called them "Rus" meaning red or red haired.

It is where the name "Russian" is derived from. People of the Rus (or Red hair). The name was well established when they founded trading towns and cities like Novgorod, Kiev, etc. They used the rivers to travel such as the Dnieper, Volga, and Vistula.

Blue was also a substitute word in Scandinavia for Black. Harold Bluetooth could have used a dentist I would imagine.

 

[ErikB]

It seems moot if you use the word 'bangs' in a sentence describing men's hair - I always thought bangs were a part of a female's hairstyle. Do they apply to men, too?

pH

They do indeed. As far as I know bangs are universal. Though most men don't grow them long enough to need to clear their eyes of them.