What was the thought process behind why words like woman and female were derived from words like man and male?

Answer 1

probably why they dont have a willy !!!! better then males being called willy wankers ....

Answer 2

May 25, 2018 — We like to think of ourselves as unbiased and objective in our ... at which specific attributes were more often assigned to men and to women.

Answer 3

It is not a thought process.  It is etymology.  So look up the word. for its etymology..  This used to be covered in freshman English in high school.

Answer 4

The thought: we have to differentiate the sexes. Duh!

Answer 5

I am assuming it is because men were the first model and women were the upgrade.

Answer 6

The word female comes from the Latin femella, the diminutive form of femina, meaning "woman"; it is not etymologically related to the word male, which is from the Old French masle (adj.) "masculine, male, adult," also used as a noun  from Latin masculus "masculine, male, worthy of a man" but in the late 14th century the spelling of female was altered in English to parallel the spelling of male.

Also male and female can refer to either sex or gender or a shape of connectors.

Answer 7

Andy - in OE and later 'wif' meant 'woman' which is why you get the expression 'married wife' in quite late Scottish usage. It sounds tautological but it isn't. You get it in English too - there were henwives (women who were not married to hens, but kept them) gingerbread wives (again, they did not marry gingerbread, but sold it) and spaewives (female fortune tellers) as well as 'old wives' tales' which were not confined to elderly married ladies

The OE wifman attaches the female word 'wif' to the gender neutral man to produce 'female person' 'female human being.'

The thinking is not quite so male-dominated as it appears.

Answer 8

Why because men were able to dominate women because they are generally bigger and stronger.

Answer 9

God created women out of the rib of adam because he was lonely.