Spanish Nouns Whose Meanings Change With Gender

Nearly all nouns in Spanish are always masculine or always feminine. But there are a few nouns that can be of either gender. In most cases, those are the nouns describing what people do for a living, and the gender varies with the person the word stands for. Thus, for example, el dentista refers to a male dentist, while la dentista refers to a female dentist. Un artista is a male artist, while una artista is a female artist. Most of the occupational words that follow this pattern end in -ista. One common exception is atleta: un atleta is a male athlete, while una atleta is a female athlete. When Gender Affects Meaning But there are a few nouns where the matter of gender is more complicated. Those are the nouns whose meanings vary depending on the gender of articles or adjectives used with them. Here is a list of the most common such words; only the basic or most usual meanings are included here. baterà ­a: el baterà ­a male drummer; la baterà ­a battery, female drummerbusca: el busca pager (electronic device); la busca searchcabeza: el cabeza male in charge; la cabeza head (body part), female in chargecalavera: el calavera excessively hedonistic man; la calavera skullcapital: el capital investment; la capital capital city, capital lettercircular: el circular pie chart; la circular circular (printed notice)cà ³lera: el cà ³lera cholera; la cà ³lera angercoma: el coma coma; la coma commacometa: el cometa comet; la cometa kiteconsonante: el consonante rhyme; la consonante consonantcontra: el contra drawback or organ pedal; la contra opposing attitude or an antidotecorte: el corte cut, blade; la corte court (law)cura: el cura Catholic priest; la cura curedelta: el delta delta (of a river); la delta delta (Greek letter)doblez: el doblez fold, crease; la doblez double dealingeditorial: el editorial editorial (opinion article); la editorial pub lishing businessescucha: el escucha male sentry or guard; la escucha female sentry or guard, the act of listeningfinal: el final end; la final championship game in a tournamentfrente: el frente front; la frente foreheadguardia: el guardia policeman; la guardia protection, custody, guard, police force, policewomanguà ­a: el guà ­a male guide; la guà ­a guidebook, female guidehaz: el haz   bundle or light beam; la  haz   face or surface (La haz is an exception to the rule about using el with feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a sound.)maà ±ana: el maà ±ana future; la maà ±ana morningmargen: el margen margin; la margen bank (as of a river)moral: el moral blackberry bush; la moral morale, moralityorden: el orden order (opposite of chaos); la orden religious orderordenanza: el ordenanza order (opposite of chaos); la ordenanza orderlypapa: el papa pope; la papa potatoparte: el parte document; la parte portionpendiente: el pendiente earring; la pe ndiente slopepez: el pez fish; la pez tar or pitchpolicà ­a: el policà ­a policeman; la policà ­a police force, policewomanradio: el radio radius, radium; la radio radio (In some areas, radio is masculine in all uses.)tema: el tema subject; la tema obsession (traditionally feminine for this meaning, although in modern usage tema is usually masculine for all uses)terminal: el terminal electrical terminal; la terminal shipping terminaltrompeta: el trompeta male trumpeter; la trompeta trumpet, female trumpetervista: el vista male customs officer; la vista view, female customs officervocal: el vocal male committee member; la vocal vowel, female committee member Why Some Nouns Have Two Genders The reasons some of the nouns in this list have two genders is lost in history, but in a few cases the dual gender is a matter of etymology: The masculine noun and feminine are separate words that only coincidentally have the same sound and spelling, making them homographs. Among the homograph pairs on this list are: El papa comes from Latin, which is common for words related to Catholicism, but la papa comes from Quechua, an indigenous South America language.Both el haz and la haz come from Latin. The former comes from fascis, the latter from facies.El coma comes from a Greek word referring to a deep sleep. While la coma has Greek origins, it came directly to Spanish from Latin.El pez comes from the Latin piscis, while la pez comes from the Latin pix or picis.