As already remarked, words in Chinese do not change their form to
indicate gender. Sometimes, however, words indicating gender are
placed before them. \{Nen}/ (男), “Male” and \{°Nyui}/ (女), “female”,
are used with human beings in this way. Thus we have \{Nen nyung}/ (男人)
for “man”, and \{°Nyui nyung}/ (女人) for “woman”. \{Nen noen}/ (男囝)
means “a male child,” and \{°Nyui noen}/ (女囝) “a female child.”
When speaking of the male and female of animals \{Yoong}/ (雄) and
\{Tsh}/ (雌) are used. Thus we have \{Yoong kyi}/ (雄鷄) for “cock,” and
\{Tsh kyi}/ (雌鷄) for “hen,” \{Yoong s-°ts}/ (雄獅子) for “lion,” and
\{Tsh s-°ts}/ (雌獅子) for “lioness.”