Gender Words in Yoruba: Man, Woman, Boy and Girl

Yoruba does not have grammatical gender. Nouns are not masculine or feminine, and adjectives do not agree. When gender matters, Yoruba adds a word.

Words for people

Yoruba	Meaning
ọkùnrin	man
obìnrin	woman
ọmọkùnrin	boy
ọmọbìnrin	girl
ọmọ	child

Male and female parts

The words -kùnrin (male) and -bìnrin (female) are used to specify:

• arákùnrin (brother) and arábìnrin (sister)
• ọmọkùnrin (son, boy) and ọmọbìnrin (daughter, girl)

Animals

For animals, Yoruba uses akọ (male) and abo (female) after or before the noun, depending on the word.

Names

Many Yoruba names are gender-neutral, such as Táíwò and Kẹ́hìndé, so you often cannot tell from the name whether the person is male or female.

Pronouns

The pronouns ó and òun mean he, she or it. English-speaking learners often need to keep track of gender in translation and not in Yoruba itself.

Job titles

Titles usually have one form for everyone:

• olùkọ́ (teacher)
• dókítà (doctor)
• oníṣòwò (trader)

Why it matters

For learners, this simplifies grammar. For translators, it means that some English sentences have no way to be gendered in Yoruba unless extra words are added.

Tips

1. Add gender words only when needed.
2. Remember names are often neutral.
3. Use the dictionary to check compound words.

Look up any Yoruba word with English Yoruba Dictionary →