In French, what is the feminine of the word « professeur »?
In French, there are two feminine forms of the word professeur : la professeur, la professeure. Both are correct.
Historically, the French Academy recognized only the masculine form. In March 2019, the Academy issued a report in favor of feminizing job names. This is the reason why there are two spellings today.
In reality, 4 feminine forms exist: the teacher, la professeur, la professeure, la professoresse et la professeuse. The last two are very little used today.
The usage is moving towards the feminization « professeure », as shown in the graph above from Google Ngram. It can be seen that the feminization « professeure » has become the majority since the 90s, whereas previously, the masculine form was more used.
When writing a formal document, it is still prudent to use the masculine form: la professeur, elle est professeur ...
In a literary context, the forms professoresse and professeuse can be interesting.
In French, there are two feminine forms of the word professeur : la professeur, la professeure. Both are correct.
Historically, the French Academy recognized only the masculine form. In March 2019, the Academy issued a report in favor of feminizing job names. This is the reason why there are two spellings today.
In reality, 4 feminine forms exist: the teacher, la professeur, la professeure, la professoresse et la professeuse. The last two are very little used today.
The usage is moving towards the feminization « professeure », as shown in the graph above from Google Ngram. It can be seen that the feminization « professeure » has become the majority since the 90s, whereas previously, the masculine form was more used.
When writing a formal document, it is still prudent to use the masculine form: la professeur, elle est professeur ...
In a literary context, the forms professoresse and professeuse can be interesting.
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| 0 | 6690 | https://en.ans.wiki/5988/in-french-what-is-the-feminine-of-the-word-professeur/ | https://en.ans.wiki/5988/in-french-what-is-the-feminine-of-the-word-professeur | 1 |