ABSTRACT
In grammar we speak of genders. In Latin, German and other cognate languages each substantive has a definite gender, masculine, feminine or neuter. The distinction has some connexion with the natural distinction between male, female, and sexless, but in a great many cases it seems to be purely arbitrary without any reference to natural conditions. This was the case also in Old English, but in Modern English we have no traces left of this system, though perfect simplicity has not been achieved.
