What's the point of gendered words in certain languages? - eviltoast

I know a lot of languages have some aspects that probably seem a bit strange to non-native speakers…in the case of gendered words is there a point other than “just the way its always been” that explains it a bit better?

I don’t have gendered words in my native language, and from the outside looking in I’m not sure what gendered words actually provide in terms of context? Is there more to it that I’m not quite following?

  • cerement@slrpnk.net
    111·
    1 year ago

    gender in English

    • gendered pronouns
    • familial relations – woman, daughter, husband, uncle
    • using gendered pronouns for ships and nations
    • actor/actress, policeman/policewoman
    • other leftover forms – blond/blonde
    • radix@lemm.ee
      2·
      1 year ago

      Oh, I forgot there are ways of gendering that aren’t limited to nouns having gender like Spanish. Thanks for explaining!