Is the word cats masculine or feminine? - briefly
The word "cats" is grammatically neutral and does not have a gender in English. It refers to multiple cats regardless of their biological sex.
Is the word cats masculine or feminine? - in detail
The gender classification of nouns in English is not as straightforward as it might be in languages with grammatical genders, such as Spanish, French, or German. In English, nouns are not assigned a specific gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and the word "cats" is no exception to this rule.
The term "gender" when applied to nouns typically refers to the grammatical category that assigns nouns to one of three classes: masculine, feminine, or neuter. This categorization affects the agreement of adjectives, articles, and pronouns in languages with grammatical gender. However, English does not operate under this system. Instead, English uses natural gender for words that refer to living beings, where the biological sex of the entity determines the pronoun used (he/she/it).
For example, when referring to a single cat, one would use "she" if the cat is female and "he" if the cat is male. If the sex of the cat is unknown or irrelevant, "it" can be used. The plural form "cats," like many other English nouns, does not carry grammatical gender. Instead, the context or specific information about the cats (e.g., their biological sex) determines how they are referred to in a sentence.
In summary, the word "cats" is neither masculine nor feminine in the sense of grammatical gender because English does not assign such classifications to its nouns. The appropriate pronoun or article to use with "cats" depends on the context and specific information about the cats being referred to.