Spanish Words That Break the Gender Rule

Ending offers a good clue to gender, but there are exceptions

Mano del desierto, sculpture in Chile — La "Mano del desierto," una escultura en Chile. (The "Desert Hand," a sculpture in Chile.).
Marcos Escalier / Creative Commons.

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Updated on January 30, 2020

Spanish nouns that end with -o are masculine, and ones that end with -a are feminine, right?

Yes, usually. But there are plenty of exceptions to this gender rule, of which the two best known are mano, the word for hand, which is feminine, and día, the word for day, which is masculine.

Key Takeaways

Most Spanish nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions.
Some of the exceptions occur because of how the words were treated in other languages, such as Latin and Greek.
Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to.

6 Ways in Which the Rule Is Broken

Exceptions to the a-is-feminine-o-is-masculine rule fall into six categories:

Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía.
Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist." For example, dentista can be either masculine or feminine depending on whether the dentist referred to is a man or woman. A few words with other endings, such as modelo for a human model, are treated the same way.
Words whose meanings vary depending on the gender. For example, un cometa is a comet, but una cometa is a kite.
Some masculine words that come from Greek and end in -a (often -ma). Most of these words have English cognates.
A few compound nouns, which are traditionally masculine, even when the noun portion comes from a feminine noun.
Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.

List of Words Violating the Gender Rule

Here are the most common words violating the a/o rule, although there are dozens of others:

el aroma: aroma
el Canadá: Canada
el clima: climate
el cólera: cholera (but la cólera, anger)
el cometa: comet (but la cometa, kite)
el cura: male priest (but la cura, cure or female priest)
el día: day
el diagrama: diagram
el dilema: dilemma
el diploma: diploma
la disco: disco (short for la discoteca)
el drama: drama
el enigma: enigma
el esquema: outline, diagram
la foto: photo (short for la fotografía)
el guardia: policeman or male guard (but la guardia, vigilance, policewoman or female guard)
el guardabrisa: windshield
el guardarropa: clothing closet
el guía: male guide (but la guía, guidebook or female guide)
el idioma: language
el idiota: male idiot (but la idiota, female idiot)
el indígena: indigenous male (but la indígena, indigenous female)
la mano: hand
el mañana: near future (but la mañana, tomorrow or morning)
el mapa: map
la modelo: female model (but el modelo, male model or various types on inanimate models)
el morfema: morpheme
la moto: motorcycle (short for la motocicleta)
la nao: ship
el panorama: panorama, outlook

el papa: pope (but la papa, potato)
el planeta: planet
el plasma: plasma
el poema: poem
el policía: policeman (but la policía, police force or policewoman)
el problema: problem
el programa: program
el quechua: Quechua language
la radio: radio (short for la radiodifusión; but el radio, radius or radium; usage of the feminine form depends on the region)
la reo: female criminal (but el reo, male criminal)
el reuma, el reúma: rheumatism
el síntoma: symptom, sign
el sistema:system
el sofá: sofa
la soprano: female soprano (but el soprano, male soprano)
el tanga: G-string
el telegrama: telegram
el tema: theme, subject
el teorema: theorem
el tequila: tequila (short for el licor de Tequila)
la testigo: female witness (but el testigo, male witness)
el tranvía: streetcar

Gender for Names of Occupations and Other Roles

Most words that refer to people's jobs or roles, many ending in -ista or -eta, that can be either masculine or feminine are not listed above. Most have English cognates. Among the abundance of words that fit that category are:

el/la atleta: athlete
el/la artista: artist
el/la astronauta: astronaut
el/la dentista: dentist
el/la derechista: rightist or right-winger
el/la comentarista: commentator
el/la flebotomista: phlebotomist
el/la izquierdista: leftist or left-winger
el/la oficinista: office worker
el/la poeta: poet
el/la profeta: prophet
el/la turista: tourist

Feminine Nouns That Use El

Also not included in the top list are combinations such as el agua (water) and el águila (eagle)—feminine words that begin with a stressed a- or ha- and are immediately preceded by el (rather than la) in the singular form only.

With these words, el doesn't indicate gender but is used instead for ease of pronunciation. It is similar to the way in which English substitutes "an" for "a" in front of some nouns, as the rule applies to the opening sound of the word, not how it's spelled.

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Erichsen, Gerald. "Spanish Words That Break the Gender Rule." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/words-that-break-the-gender-rule-3078133. Erichsen, Gerald. (2020, August 27). Spanish Words That Break the Gender Rule. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/words-that-break-the-gender-rule-3078133 Erichsen, Gerald. "Spanish Words That Break the Gender Rule." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/words-that-break-the-gender-rule-3078133 (accessed March 22, 2023).