“Feminine” nouns ending with –ess
When I studied at school (many years ago), they told us that in English (unlike other languages, like my
native Hebrew), usually there’s no differentiation between male and female
occupations/jobs/professions.
This, of course, is obvious when the occupation/profession ends
with:
“-ian”: physician, obstetrician, mathematician,…
or with: “-ist”: physicist, gynecologist, pharmacist….
But what about the “-er” suffix?
For example: teacher, dancer, baker, driver, writer, plumber, roofer, labourer, employer…?
It should be noted that in many cases you can still use the “male”
noun, which refers both to male and female. When you say “baker” you can mean
either a male baker or a female baker.
However, I’ve found almost 50(!) words in English specific to female occupations/titles where the male form [either with “-er” or without] is
supplemented with the “-ess” female suffix.
So,
A female baker is a “bakeress”, a female “author” is an “authoress”, a female soldier is a “soldieress” etc.
The following is a list of all [known to me…] feminine
occupations/titles ending with “-ess” which
are their masculine counterpart.
The description is not always full (i.e. covering all the meanings)
in order to make the table shorter and more legible.
You are, of course, welcome to enhance this list.
Thank you
BTW, “mattress” is NOT the female counterpart to “matter”...
Occupation/Title
|
Description
|
actress
|
A female player on
the stage
|
adulteress
|
A woman that commits
adultery
|
adventuress
|
A female adventurer;
a woman on the look-out for a position
|
assassinatress
|
A female assassin
|
authoress
|
A female author; a
female literary composer
|
bakeress
|
A female baker
|
baroness
|
The wife of a baron;
A lady holding a baronial title ‘in her own right.’
|
clerkess
|
A female clerk
|
countess
|
The feminine of a
count; The wife or widow of a count
|
courtieress
|
A female courtier
|
deaness
|
A woman who is head
of a female chapter; The wife of a dean
|
doctoress/doctress
|
A female doctor; A
female teacher
|
duchess
|
The wife or widow of
a duke
|
empress
|
The consort of an
emperor
|
esquiress
|
A female esquire
|
goddess
|
A female deity; A female spectator in a theatre-gallery
|
governess
|
A woman who governs;
A female teacher; an instructress
|
guardianess
|
A female guardian or
tutor
|
head-mistress
|
The principal
mistress of a school, having assistant mistresses under her
|
heiress
|
A female heir
|
hostess
|
A woman that lodges
and entertains guests
|
instructress
|
A female instructor
|
keeperess
|
A female keeper or
custodian; A woman who keeps a man
|
leaderess
|
A female leader
|
manageress
|
A woman manager,
e.g. of a theatre or hotel
|
masoness
|
A female freemason
|
mayoress
|
The wife of a mayor;
A woman holding the office of mayor. U.S.
|
mistress
|
A woman who rules,
or has control
|
murderess
|
A woman that commits
murder
|
patroness
|
A female patron
|
peeress
|
The wife of a peer
|
playeress
|
An actress
|
poetess
|
A female poet; a
woman who composes poetry
|
popess
|
A supposed female
pope
|
priestess
|
A female priest; A
priest’s wife
|
princess
|
A female sovereign
or ruler; the wife of a prince
|
seamstress
|
A woman who seams or
sews
|
seductress
|
A female seducer
|
soldieress
|
A female soldier
|
songstress
|
A female singer; a
poetess
|
sorceress
|
A female sorcerer; a
witch
|
stewardess
|
A female who
performs the duties of a steward
|
temptress
|
A female tempter
|
translatress
|
A female translator
|
waitress
|
A woman who waits
upon the guests at a hotel, restaurant, etc.
 |
