Cambridge Dictionary Redefines Meanings For ‘Woman’ & ‘Man’
Illustration 59442481 © Annzabella | Dreamstime.com
As the world evolves, so does language. Now, two of the oldest words in the English vocabulary have been updated to reflect the modern consensus.
The Cambridge Dictionary has expanded its definitions for “woman” and “man” to include transgender individuals. Although the revision for “woman” officially took place in October, it only got public attention after The Telegraph picked it up last week, the Washington Post reports.
The update adds to the existing definition, “an adult female human being,” with a second meaning: “An adult who lives an identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”
Cambridge Dictionary just dropped a new definition of "woman." pic.twitter.com/qDb17DJP5H
— Christopher F. Rufo âš”ï¸ (@realchrisrufo) December 12, 2022
Examples of the broadened definition include, “She was the first trans woman elected to a national office,” and “Mary is a woman who was assigned male at birth.”
In parallel with the recognized understanding of “woman,” the Cambridge Dictionary has updated its entry for “man” to be more inclusive, describing it with the sentences, “Mark is a trans man” and “Their doctor encouraged them to live as a man for a while before undergoing surgical transition.”
As a sign of the times, “woman” is having a moment in 2022. Separately, Dictionary.com has selected “woman” as its word of the year, noting a surge in searches for the term in the wake of historic 2022 events like the inauguration of the first Black woman in the Supreme Court, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Dictionary.com says the choice “reflects how the intersection of gender, identity, and language dominates the current cultural conversation,” though it admits its definition is “not the last word on what defines a woman.”
Our #WordOfTheYear is fundamental not just to our vocabulary but to who we are as humans. It’s a word that’s inseparable from the story of 2022. https://t.co/OeJELgy3YL’s Word of the Year is “woman.”https://t.co/3lExL2fLt7 pic.twitter.com/5fkIWDLmsE
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) December 13, 2022
“The word belongs to each and every woman—however they define themselves,” shares Dictionary.com.
Cambridge Dictionary’s update follows two other revisions to “woman” in 2020. Oxford, which previously included “a man’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover” as one of its definitions for “woman,” has since tweaked the phrase to read, “a person’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover.”
Merriam-Webster also now perceives a woman as “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male.”
The broadening of what a woman means to Cambridge Dictionary comes just as President Joe Biden signed a bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriages on Tuesday. The new Respect for Marriage Act sees that unions beyond one of a man and a woman are valid in any state, so long as the marriage is recognized in the state they were wed.
Laurel Powell of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ support organization, tells the Washington Post that the new meaning signals a growth of acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals by the general population. Dictionaries aren’t dictating our lexicon, Powell justifies—they’re a “reflection of what is already widely accepted.”
[via Washington Post and BBC, cover illustration 59442481 © Annzabella | Dreamstime.com]
