| 释义 |
-esssuff.（后缀）- Female:雌性：lioness.雌狮
- Middle English -esse 中古英语 -esse
- from Old French 源自 古法语
- from Late Latin -issa 源自 后期拉丁语 -issa
- from Greek 源自 希腊语
- Critics have argued that sexist connotations are implicit in the use of the feminine suffix-ess, as found in words such asambassadress, sculptress, waitress, stewardess, hostess, actress, and many others, in that the suffix implies that the denoted roles differ as performed by women and men.In some cases, as with the wordtemptress, there may be some legitimacy to such an implication of difference; and for this reason the acceptability of the suffix may depend on the individual word.In the case of most occupational terms,the suffix is widely felt to be inappropriate.Thus 65 percent of the Usage Panel rejectssculptress in the sentence Georgia O'Keeffe is not as well-known as a sculptress as she is as a painter; similarly 75 percent rejectsambassadress in the sentence When the ambassadress arrives, please show her directly to my office. With certain occupations, however, differentiation based on gender may be legitimate:acting, for example, is an occupation in which the parts one can play may in fact depend on one's sex.Thus 92 percent acceptsactress in There are not very many good parts available for older actresses, though it should be noted that many women prefer to be calledactors. In the case of most social roles,gender is felt to make a legitimate difference, and the suffix is accepted.Thus 87 percent of the Panel acceptshostess in the sentence Mary Ann is such a charming hostess that her parties always go off smoothly; similarly, 67 percent acceptsseductress in the sentence Mata Hari used her ability as a seductress to spy for the Germans. When the same word may be used in different senses,one social and the other not,the acceptability of the suffix varies accordingly.Thus 93 percent acceptsheiress in the sentence His only hope now is to marry an heiress, while only 34 percent acceptsheiress in its metaphorical use to mean "successor,” as inHis daughter and political heiress has returned to her country in triumph. See Usage Note at man 批评家们一直认为阴性后缀-ess 的用法暗含有性别歧视的意思， 例如单词ambassadress,sculptress,waitress,stewardess,hostess,actress 以及其它许多单词， 该后缀都暗示了男人和女人扮演的角色是不同的。在一些情况下，暗示男女不同使用该后缀具有一定的合理性，像temptress 等， 但这种用法只能被个别单词接受。在大多数专业的词语中，这个后缀的用法被认为是不合理的。因此在用法使用小组中有65％的人认为sculptress 在句子 乔姬安娜作为一位女雕刻家远没有作为一个水彩画家出名 的用法是错误的。 有将近75％的人认为单词ambassadess 在句子 当女大使来时，请直接把她带到我的办公室来”。 的用法也是不对的。 然而，在一些惯用法中，由于单词在语法上的词性不同，使用该后缀是合理的，例如演戏就是一个人们只有靠性别才能选择角色扮演的职业。因此有92％的人接受单词actress 在 并没有多少好角色适合年纪较大的女演员 一句中的用法， 尽管还需要注意有许多女人还愿意被称作actors。 在许多社会职务上，这种词性上的区别似乎使运用后缀具有一定的合理性。因此有87％的用法使用小组成员接受单词hostess 在句子 玛丽·安是一位富有魅力的女主人，她举办的聚会总是过得很快 中的用法。 同样地，有67％的成员认为seductess 在句子 “玛塔·哈瑞运用她具有的诱惑力为德国人刺探情报” 的用法是对的。 当一个单词具有不同的含义时，一个比较普遍而另一个不然，那么对使用后缀所引起性变化的接受就会相应的发生改变。于是有93％的成员能够接受heiress 在句子 他现在唯一的希望就是和一位女继承人结婚 中的用法， 而只有34％的成员能够接受它的比喻含义成功者 ， 例如在句子她的女儿和一位政权继任者胜利地重返祖国 参见 man
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