*SET-U

PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD

ALL SOURCES ↗
BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-male

SOURCE
RECORD.

One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.

CLAIM-LEVEL USAGE

11 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.

This count excludes duplicate dossier-path citations. Open the claims below to see exactly how the source is used.

historical dictionarymw-male

Male — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use

AUTHOR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors
YEAR
2026
PUBLISHER
Merriam-Webster
DOI
Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE
historical dictionary
EXTERNAL RECORD
OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
4CANONICAL EDGES
1WITNESSES
0COMPARISONS
0CONTEXT LINKS
1RANKED REVEALS
2DISPUTES
3JOURNEY STAGES
1WORD DOSSIERS
01

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

1
RANK 115GRADE Asupports

Male is not mal-, bad.

Male descends through Anglo-French masle from Latin masculus and mās; the bad prefix mal- belongs to Latin malus.

mās

mās → masculus → masle → male → male

Etymology: masculus from mās

Publishes the actual male lineage.

male dossier ↗truth record ↗86UNVEILING
02

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

2
03

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

4
EDGE 821supportsestablished

male → male

Present-Day English → Middle English · continuation

SOUND
Modern male continues Middle English male.
MEANING
The male sex-class meaning remains central.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology and First Known Use

Publishes the Middle English form and fourteenth-century horizon.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 822supportsestablished

male → masle

Middle English → Anglo-French · borrowing

SOUND
Middle English male was borrowed from Anglo-French masle or male.
MEANING
The noun and adjective cross into English.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: Middle English from Anglo-French masle or male

Publishes the borrowing channel.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 823supportsestablished

masle → masculus

Anglo-French → Latin · inheritance

SOUND
Anglo-French masle continues Latin masculus through Romance sound change.
MEANING
The male noun and adjective continue through French.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: Anglo-French from Latin masculus

Publishes the Romance-to-Latin step.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 825supportsboundary

mās → UNKNOWN

Latin → Beyond secure reconstruction · knowledge boundary

SOUND
No older form is promoted beyond Latin mās in the reviewed headword sources.
MEANING
The trail stops without inventing a reconstruction or linking unrelated mal-.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
SET-U editorial boundary
Etymology endpoint at Latin masculus

Supports the honest boundary after the Latin base rather than an invented deeper root.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
04

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS

WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE

1
maleSOURCE-REPORTED

male

Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for male

OPEN WITNESS 178 ↗
05

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES

0
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
06

GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS

JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

3
07

NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE

0
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
08

WORD-FAMILY REUSE

DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE

1
male11 CLAIM LINKS↗

4 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.