*SET-U

CANONICAL LANGUAGE GRAPH

TRACE A WORD ↗
NODE / 0810attestedMiddle English

femelle

TRANSLITERATION femelle

female

DATE
Middle English
SENSE
female noun
FAMILY
Indo-European / West Germanic
CANONICAL KEY
node:2:femelle:attested:sense:female-noun

The earlier English form preserves the French shape before analogical remodeling.

01

ANCESTRAL EDGES

ROOT OF THIS ROOT

1
GO DEEPERborrowingestablished
Old French · Old French · female noun

femele

female

SOUND
Middle English femelle continues Old French femele or femelle.
MEANING
The female noun crosses from French into English.
SCHOLAR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
CONFIDENCE
established
Female — Definition, Word History, and First Known UsesupportsEtymology: Middle English femel or femelle from Anglo-French femele or femelle

Publishes the French borrowing channel.

ORIGINAL ↗
Female — American Heritage DictionarycontextEtymology: Middle English femelle from Old French

Independently supplies the French intermediary.

ORIGINAL ↗
OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 815 ↗
02

DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES

THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP

1
DESCENDANTanalogical reshapingestablished
Present-Day English · 14th century–today · female sex class

female

of or relating to the female sex; a female individual

SOUND
Earlier femelle or femel was respelled female under the influence of male.
MEANING
The sex-class meaning continues while surface spelling creates a misleading resemblance.
CHRONOLOGY
The remodeling occurs within English after borrowing.
SCHOLAR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
CONFIDENCE
established — Influence is not common ancestry or morphological composition.
Female — Definition, Word History, and First Known UsesupportsWord History: alteration of femel or femelle influenced by male

Directly identifies male as spelling influence rather than ancestor.

ORIGINAL ↗
Female — American Heritage DictionarycontextEtymology: alteration influenced by male

Independently publishes the analogical remodeling.

ORIGINAL ↗
OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 814 ↗
03

TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE

EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE

1

This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.

UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
1
REVIEWED EDGES
1
DEEPEST PATH
1
MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
1
female1 connected node
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01analogical reshapingestablished
Middle Englishfemelle→Present-Day English · 14th century–todayfemaleof or relating to the female sex; a female individual
SOUND
Earlier femelle or femel was respelled female under the influence of male.
MEANING
The sex-class meaning continues while surface spelling creates a misleading resemblance.
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 814 ↗
Female — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use · Word History: alteration of femel or femelle influenced by male ↗Female — American Heritage Dictionary · Etymology: alteration influenced by male ↗

“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.

04

RECORDED EVIDENCE

ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE

0
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.

The reviewed graph does not yet attach a source-reported or directly inspected witness to this canonical form.

05

EDITORIAL REUSE

WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE

1
02femalefemelle · established