Male/female forms in English

[griffin1977]

PBear42 posted this is in another thread, when someone used the word "Blonde" to describe a man:

Nitpick. This is a loanword from French. The male form has no "e."

The linked dictionary article , says:

Etymology: Middle French blond, masculine, blonde, feminine

Is this the correct interpretation ? That the ENGLISH form of the adjective Blonde will change its ending based on whether its describing a male or female ? This seems weird to me. Are there any english adjectives that change in this way ? I know there there are words like handsome/pretty but these describe different concepts.

[jjimm]

Off the top of my head, actor and actress. Adulterer and adulteress.

And another French loan word: fiancé and fiancée.

[griffin1977]

I was specifically after adjectives, not nouns. There of course plenty english nouns that change based on gender. But adjectives that change their ending based on gender seems very strange (and non-english) to me ? This TELF page says:

Adjectives don't have a singular and plural form OR a masculine, femine and neuter form.

[jjimm]

Oh, sorry. Can't think of anything else.

[pulykamell]

I suppose it depends on what stylebook you're following. AFAIK, there's no rule that you must use "blond" for male and "blonde" for female in English. I use "blond" as a masculine noun and "blonde" as feminine noun, but some users of the English language use "blond" in all cases and, so far as they are consistant, I don't believe this is wrong.

I am familiar with the AP Stylebook's rule on this, though. They say to use "blond" for all adjectival uses and as a masculine noun. "Blonde" only as a feminine noun.

There is also the "brunet/brunette" distinction.

[pulykamell]

Sorry--I reread your OP and realized you were specifically looking for adjectives. In this case, the major stylebooks I'm familiar with use only one form: "blond."

[GorillaMan]

I've always seen 'blond' as an American form of the word.

[jjimm]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

Sorry--I reread your OP and realized you were specifically looking for adjectives.

Great minds, eh?

Anyway, I found this, that claims blond(e) is the only one.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by GorillaMan

I've always seen 'blond' as an American form of the word.

I think this may indeed be a UK/US divide in the adjectival form. I can't find a single American stylesheet that advocates the usage of "blonde" as a feminine adjective. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the Chicago Manual of Style at the moment, so somebody could check for me if they have anything to say on the matter. I'd bet that they conform to AP Style in this instance.