The hand mirror and comb of the Roman goddess Venus is often used to represent the female sex. A mirror is an object with a surface that has good Specular reflection; that is it is smooth enough to form an Image. A comb is a device made of solid material generally flat always toothed and is used in hair care for straightening and cleaning hair or other fibers Venus was a major Roman Goddess principally associated with Love, Beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess

Female (♀) is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces ova (egg cells). An organism's sex is defined by the gametes it produces males produce male gametes (spermatozoa or Sperm) while females produce female gametes (ova or Egg cells; individual An ovum (plural ova) is a Haploid Female reproductive cell or Gamete. The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male. A gamete (from Ancient Greek γαμέτης; translated gamete = wife gametes = husband is a cell that fuses with another gamete Motility is a biological term which refers to the ability to move spontaneously and actively consuming energy in the process A spermatozoon or spermatozoan ( pl spermatozoa) from the Ancient Greek σπέρμα (seed and ζῷον (living being and more commonly known Male (♂ refers to the sex of an organism or part of an organism which produces small mobile Gametes called spermatozoa. A female individual cannot reproduce sexually without access to the gametes of a male (an exception is parthenogenesis). The Evolution of sexual reproduction is a major puzzle The first Fossilized evidence of sexually reproducing Organisms is from Eukaryotes of the Stenian Male (♂ refers to the sex of an organism or part of an organism which produces small mobile Gametes called spermatozoa. Parthenogenesis (from the Greek παρθένος parthenos, "virgin" + γένεσις genesis, "creation" is an asexual form Some organisms can reproduce both sexually and asexually. The Evolution of sexual reproduction is a major puzzle The first Fossilized evidence of sexually reproducing Organisms is from Eukaryotes of the Stenian Asexual reproduction is a form of reproduction which does not involve Meiosis, Ploidy reduction or Fertilization.

There is no single genetic mechanism behind sex differences in different species and the existence of two sexes seems to have evolved multiple times independently in different evolutionary lineages. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 An evolutionary lineage is a sequence of Species, that form a line of descent each new species the direct result of speciation from an immediate ancestral species Other than the defining difference in the type of gamete produced, differences between males and females in one lineage cannot always be predicted by differences in another. The concept is not limited to animals; egg cells are produced by chytrids, diatoms, water molds and land plants, among others. Chytridiomycota is a Division of the Fungi kingdom. The name refers to the chytridium (from the Greek Diatoms ( Greek: (dia = "through" + (temnein = "to cut" i Oomycetes also known as Water molds (or water moulds: see spelling differences) are a group of filamentous unicellular Heterokonts physically Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. In land plants, female and male designate not only the egg- and sperm-producing organisms and structures, but also the structures of the sporophytes that give rise to male and female plants. All land plants and some Algae, have life cycles in which a haploid Gametophyte generation alternates with a Diploid sporophyte, the generation of a

Etymology and usage

The word female comes from the Latin femella, the diminutive form of femina, meaning "woman," which is not actually related to the word "male. " The word was probably originally femella, meaning "young girl. " In the late 14th century, the English spelling was altered so that the word paralleled the spelling of "male. "

The word female is generally considered neutral when used as an adjective; when used as a noun, it is often regarded as derogatory. Female judge would be preferable to woman judge; "This judge is a woman" would be preferable to "This judge is a female. " There are exceptions: League of Women Voters is a name chosen by the mostly-female members of the League. The American Heritage Dictionary and the Random House Dictionary are not completely clear on this point, which is a sensitive point: it is hard to find neutral terms for women performing jobs once reserved for men, because these women generally insist that they belong there; and many other people—including some women—insist that they do not. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language ( AHD) is an American Dictionary of the English language published by The Random House Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged was the original name of a large American Dictionary, first published in 1966, and recently

The phrase the female, in the sense of the female sex or the class of all women, figures prominently in the first act of Henry V, in which Henry's bishops discuss with him the right of the French King to his throne—and Henry's right to usurp it. Henry V may refer to Henry V Holy Roman Emperor (1081–1125 Henry V of England (1387–1422 Henri comte de Chambord They conclude that the salic law cited by the French is not really French, but German, and that Henry can properly invade France, thus prolonging the Hundred Years' War. Salic law ( Lat Lex Salica) was an important body of traditional Law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the Early Middle Ages The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior

Mammalian female

The distinguishing characteristic of mammalian species is the presence of mammary glands. Mammary glands are the organs that in Mammals produce Milk for the sustenance of the young The mammary glands are modified sweat glands that produce milk, which is used to feed the young during the period of time shortly after birth. Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the Mammary glands of female Mammals (including Monotremes. Only mammals have the capacity to produce milk. Lactation describes the secretion of Milk from the Mammary glands the process of providing that milk to the young and the period of time that a Mother The presence of mammary glands is most obvious on humans, due to the tendency of the female human body to store large amounts of fatty tissue near the nipples, resulting in prominent breasts, although today some human females also surgically augment their breast size. The breast is the upper Ventral region of an animal’s Torso, particularly that of Mammals including Human beings. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus The breast is the upper Ventral region of an animal’s Torso, particularly that of Mammals including Human beings. A breast implant is a Prosthesis used to enlarge the size of a woman's Breasts (known as breast augmentation, breast enlargement, mammoplasty However, mammary glands are present in all mammals, although they are vestigial in the male of the species. Vestigiality describes homologous characters of Organisms which have lost all or most of their original function in a species through

The mammalian female is characterized by having two copies of the X chromosome as opposed to the male which carries only one X and one smaller Y chromosome. The X chromosome is one of the two sex-determining Chromosomes in many animal species including mammals (the other is the Y chromosome) The Y chromosome is the sex-determining Chromosome in most Mammals including Humans In mammals it contains the gene SRY, which triggers To compensate for the difference in size, one of the female's X chromosomes is randomly inactivated in each cell. X-inactivation (also called lyonization) is a process by which one of the two copies of the X chromosome present in Female Mammals is inactivated In birds, by contrast, it is the female who is heterozygous and carries a Z and a W chromosome whilst the male carries two Z chromosomes. Zygosity refers to the genetic condition of a Zygote. In genetics zygosity describes the similarity or dissimilarity of DNA between Homologous

Mammalian females are also unique in that they all bear live young (with the rare exception of monotremes, which lay eggs). Monotremes (from the Greek monos 'single' + trema 'hole' referring to the Cloaca) are Mammals that lay eggs ( Prototheria) instead However, there are non-mammalian animals (such as sharks) whose eggs hatch inside their bodies, which gives the appearance that they bear live young. Sharks ( Superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of Fish with a full cartilaginous Skeleton and a highly streamlined body

Symbol

A common symbol used to represent the female sex is ♀ (Unicode: U+2640 Alt codes: Alt+12), a circle with a small cross underneath. In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's In PCs running the Microsoft Windows or DOS Operating systems additional characters to those available by the current Keyboard layout may be typed This symbol also represents the planet Venus and is a stylized representation of the goddess Venus' hand mirror. The VENUS ( V ictoria E xperimental N etwork U nder the S ea project is a cabled sea floor observatory operated by the University Venus was a major Roman Goddess principally associated with Love, Beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess According to Schott^[1], "The most established view" is that the male and female symbols "are derived from contractions in Greek script of the Greek names of these planets, namely Thouros (Mars) and Phosphoros (Venus). These derivations have been traced by Renkama^[2] who illustrated how Greek letters can be transformed into the graphic male and female symbols still recognised today. " Thouros was abbreviated by θρ, and Phosphoros by Φκ, which were contracted into the modern symbols.

Sex determination

Main article: Sex-determination system

The sex of a particular organism may be determined by a number of factors. A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in an Organism. An organism's sex is defined by the gametes it produces males produce male gametes (spermatozoa or Sperm) while females produce female gametes (ova or Egg cells; individual These may be genetic or environmental, or may naturally change during the course of an organism's life. Although most species with male and female sexes have individuals that are either male or female, hermaphroditic animals have both male and female reproductive organs. A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs

Genetic determination

Most mammals, including humans, are genetically determined as such by the XY sex-determination system where males have an XY (as opposed to XX) sex chromosome. Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus The XY sex-determination system is the Sex-determination system found in Humans most other Mammals some insects ( Drosophila) and some A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and Protein that is found in cells. During reproduction, a male can give either an X sperm or a Y sperm, while a female can only give an X egg. Reproduction is the Biological process by which new individual Organisms are produced A Y sperm and an X egg produce a boy, while an X sperm and an X egg produce a girl. BOY is a Canadian Indie pop band The band consists of vocalist and general instrumentalist Stephen Kozmeniuk, drummer Maurie Kaufmann, A girl is any Female Human from birth through Childhood and Adolescence to attainment of Adulthood The term may also be used to mean The ZW sex-determination system, where males have a ZZ (as opposed to ZW) sex chromosome may be found in birds and some insects and other organisms. The ZW sex-determination system is a system that determines the sex of offspring in Birds, some Fish, and some Insects (including Butterflies Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described Members of Hymenoptera, such as ants and bees, are determined by haplodiploidy, where most males are haploid and females and some sterile males are diploid. Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of Insects comprising the sawflies, Wasps Bees and Ants The name refers to Ants are social Insects of the family Formicidae and along with the related families of Wasps and Bees belong to the order Bees are flying Insects closely related to Wasps and Ants Bees are a Monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea The haplodiploid sex-determination system determines the sex of the offspring of many Hymenopterans ( Bees Ants and Wasps, and coleopterans ( "Haplo" redirects here For the fictional character see The Death Gate Cycle. "Haplo" redirects here For the fictional character see The Death Gate Cycle.

Environmental determination

Some species develop into one sex or the other depending on local environmental conditions, e. g. many crocodilians' sex is influenced by the temperature of their eggs. Other species (such as the goby) are capable of transforming, as adults, from one sex to the other in response to local reproductive conditions (such as a shortage of males). gobies form the family Gobiidae, which is one of the largest families of Fish, with more than 2000 Species in more than 200 Genera In humans and most mammals, sex is determined chromosomally -- a Y sperm will produce a male offspring and an X sperm a female. However, "local" (vaginal and uterine) conditions, and possible physical differences between X and Y sperm, may cause a number of environmental factors -- time in menstrual cycle, vaginal pH, location of initial ejaculate within the vagina, sexual position, postcoital position, etc. to favor the conception of one sex or the other; there is a long folkloric tradition and limited statistical evidence for many of these factors.

Sources

Ayers, Donald M. English Words from Latin and Greek Elements. Second Edition. 1986. University of Arizona Press. United States.

References

1. ^ Schott GD. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll: Sex symbols ancient and modern: their origins and iconography on the pedigree. BMJ 2005;331:1509-1510 (24 December), doi:10. 1136/bmj. 331. 7531. 1509
2. ^ Renkema HW. Oorspong, beteekenis en toepassing van de in de botanie gebuikelijke teekens ter aanduiding van het geslacht en den levensduur. In: Jeswiet J, ed. Gedendenkboek J Valckenier Suringar. Wageningen: Nederlandsche Dendrologische Vereeniging, 1942: 96-108.

See also

• Woman
• Girl
• Feminine side
• Feminism
• Gestation
• Lactation
• Transwoman
• Transman
• Womyn
• Male