What is neuter gender?

Definition
	Neuter gender is a grammatical gender that
	includes those nouns having referents which do not have distinctions of sex, and often includes some which do have a natural sex distinction.

Examples (German)
	Here are some examples of words that have neuter gender [diacritical markings are not reproduced here]:
	das Festmahl ‘the banquet’ das Madchen ‘the girl’

Generic
	Neuter gender is a kind of
	What is grammatical gender?

Sources
	Hartmann and Stork 1972 93
	Mish 1991 795

Context for this page:

Concept module: neuter gender
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): N
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

© 2004 SIL International