Etymology of the English word female
the English word
femalederived from the Old French word
femellederived from the Latin word
femella (young woman, girl)
derived from the Latin word
femina (woman; female)
using the Proto-Indo-European prefix
dhēi-using the Latin suffix
-ella (diminutive for feminine nouns)
Date
The earliest known usage of female in English dates from the 14th century.
Usage
Word found in Modern English
