Cambridge Dictionary changes definitions of 'woman' and 'man'

Agencies | Washington                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Cambridge Dictionary has updated its definition of ‘woman’ to include anyone who “identifies as female” regardless of their sex at birth. The online dictionary added a supplementary definition of a ‘woman’ which includes transgender people, Telegraph reported.

Cambridge Dictionary now states that as well as definitions including an “adult female human being”, a woman can also be “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth”.

Giving examples, Cambridge Dictionary said, “She was the first trans woman elected to a national office” and “Mary is a woman who was assigned male at birth.”

Earlier, Merriam-Webster added a supplementary definition of ‘female’ that defines the term as “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male”.

The Cambridge Dictionary has also updated its definition of ‘man’. As well as definitions including “an adult male human being” and “the human race”, it now includes the definition, “an adult who lives and identifies as male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth”.

Giving examples, the Cambridge Dictionary wrote, “Mark is a trans man (= a man who was said to be female when they were born)” and “their doctor encouraged them to live as a man for a while before undergoing surgical transition”.

A spokesperson for the Cambridge Dictionary told the Telegraph, “Our editors made this addition to the entry for woman in October. They carefully studied usage patterns of the word woman and concluded that this definition is one that learners of English should be aware of to support their understanding of how the language is used. The first definition at the entry for woman remains unchanged and continues to be ‘an adult female human being’.