Do you say "female" or "woman"?

[Hamster]

Inspired by this thread title.

[The Dowager Mod]

Depends on the context?

[Simfan34]

Depends on the context?

Depends on the context.

[Goldwater]

Depends on the context?

Depends on the context.

Depends on the context!

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Female is only a noun for biologists.

[ElectionsGuy]

Woman. At least for humans and our civilizations, its much more comfortable, and as Alfred said, the word female is usually for biological identifications.

On a side note, if you think about it, both female and woman stem from male and man. wo is added to man, and fe is added to male.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Depends on the context?

Depends on the context.

Depends on the context!

Depends on the context‽

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

Woman. At least for humans and our civilizations, its much more comfortable, and as Alfred said, the word female is usually for biological identifications.

On a side note, if you think about it, both female and woman stem from male and man. wo is added to man, and fe is added to male.

IIRC originally there was a seperate adjective for man in old English being something like "wereman" and it was eventually dropped to become simply man.

[Donerail]

On a side note, if you think about it, both female and woman stem from male and man. wo is added to man, and fe is added to male.

Old English used wifmann for female human and wer for male human, and the gender-neutral term mann was used for person. After the Norman Conquest, mann was used more and displaced wer, while wifmann changed to woman - that's also where we get wife from.

Anyways, 'female preachers' sounds more formal than 'woman preachers' for whatever reason.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Isn't man/woman a noun and male/female an adjective?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

While using English, depends on the context.

In Polish, pretty much just "woman", since the other term would sound silly.

[GMantis]

I prefer using woman, partly due to the influence of my native language, where like in Polish using the equivalent of female would be silly, if not vaguely insulting.

[Cranberry]

I prefer using woman, partly due to the influence of my native language, where like in Polish using the equivalent of female would be silly, if not vaguely insulting.

I do it the same way, as it's similar in German.
Plus, female (weiblich) derives from the old word for woman (Weib) which has turned into an insult.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Honey or Sweetie  (Joe Biden normal)

[politicus]

I prefer using woman, partly due to the influence of my native language, where like in Polish using the equivalent of female would be silly, if not vaguely insulting.

I do it the same way, as it's similar in German.
Plus, female (weiblich) derives from the old word for woman (Weib) which has turned into an insult.

How did that happen?

On a related note I have heard that Kinder is considered old fashioned and that its now normally die Kiddies or die Kids. Is that true? (it sounds bizarre, but you never know)

[Joe Biden 2020]

I usually say woman or lady.  I use the term lady for females of any age even young children all the way up to 90-somethings.

[Tender Branson]

Depends ...

[Oak Hills]

Isn't man/woman a noun and male/female an adjective?

Yes, at least in my usage. I never use the word "woman" as a adjective, and it's actually my biggest grammar pet peeve when people do that.

On a side note, if you think about it, both female and woman stem from male and man. wo is added to man, and fe is added to male.

From the Online Etymological Dictionary:

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http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=woman&searchmode=none

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[The Dowager Mod]

Honey or Sweetie  (Joe Biden normal)

Or Sugartits?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Honey or Sweetie  (Joe Biden normal)

Or Sugartits?

After a few martinis, maybe.   

[King]

Yes.

[memphis]

Female is an adjective. Woman is a noun. There are few things in the world as low class as referring to "a female." Neck tattoos are also up there.

[minionofmidas]

I prefer using woman, partly due to the influence of my native language, where like in Polish using the equivalent of female would be silly, if not vaguely insulting.

I do it the same way, as it's similar in German.
Plus, female (weiblich) derives from the old word for woman (Weib) which has turned into an insult.

How did that happen?

Not an insult, really, more a very low register.
And it happened because it was replaced as the common term of address by "Frau", of course. Which once meant, approximately, "mylady". (And is a feminine form of an extinct word Fro that was even more exclusive a term of address, limited to kings and the old Germanic gods.) It was a very gradual process, commented on as early as ca.1200 (wîp dêst ein name ders alle krœnet, Walther) and not complete until 5 centuries later or so and even then, Weib has not been driven out of circulation entirely. (But eh. We still have strong verbs ca. 2000 to 2500 years after we changed the way we form new verbs.)

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Uh... depends on the context.

On a side note, if you think about it, both female and woman stem from male and man. wo is added to man, and fe is added to male.

Female is not etymologically connected to male. It is to etymologically connected to fertile and fecund, though.

[politicus]

I prefer using woman, partly due to the influence of my native language, where like in Polish using the equivalent of female would be silly, if not vaguely insulting.

I do it the same way, as it's similar in German.
Plus, female (weiblich) derives from the old word for woman (Weib) which has turned into an insult.

How did that happen?

Not an insult, really, more a very low register.
And it happened because it was replaced as the common term of address by "Frau", of course. Which once meant, approximately, "mylady". (And is a feminine form of an extinct word Fro that was even more exclusive a term of address, limited to kings and the old Germanic gods.) It was a very gradual process, commented on as early as ca.1200 (wîp dêst ein name ders alle krœnet, Walther) and not complete until 5 centuries later or so and even then, Weib has not been driven out of circulation entirely. (But eh. We still have strong verbs ca. 2000 to 2500 years after we changed the way we form new verbs.)

Well, we still have kvinde/kvinne/kvinna in the Nordic languages despite frue making a similar downwards "class journey" and becoming the standard form of addressing a married woman (prior to the 60s), and that's a neutral word devoid of negative connotations or low register status, so that process alone shouldn't have marginalized Weib.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I usually say woman or lady.  I use the term lady for females of any age even young children all the way up to 90-somethings.

M'lady.