fromEnglish Grammar Today
We usefemaleandmaleto refer to the sex of humans and animals:
Femalelions hunt for food more thanmalelions.
In some industries such as the clothing industry, onlyfemalesare employed.
We usefeminineandmasculinewhen we refer to the qualitiesthat we consider to be typical of women or men:
The bedroom was furnished in a veryfemininestyle.
She had a verymasculinevoice.
We also usemasculineandfeminineto talk about features of languages:
‘He’ is themasculineform of the third person singular; ‘she’ is thefeminineform.