Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday November 26, 2008

hembra, adjective, noun:
female

La hembra is the basic way of referring to females in the animal kingdom.

el pájaro hembra
the hen, the female bird

El caracol es a la vez hembra y macho.
Snails are both male and female.

When talking about children in a family, you can use hembra to describe girls in contrast to boys:

Tienen cinco hijos: dos varones y tres hembras.
They’ve got five children: two boys and three girls.


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