A few feminine nouns signifying groups of persons may also refer to indi-
vidual male or female members of that group:
Feminine Masculine
la guardia guard (company), el guardia male guard
female guard
la policía the police (force), el policía policeman
policewoman
la guía guide (book), el guía male guide
female guide
la vigía lookout (post), el vigía watchman
female lookout
In other instances nouns take a distinct masculine or feminine form to
specify different meanings:
el banco bank la banca banking system
el fruto product (result) la fruta fruit (edible)
el bolso handbag la bolsa plastic bag
Nouns of doubtful gender
(a)Mar‘sea’: most users adopt the masculine gender. However, those
whose lives are affected by the sea habitually use la mar. The feminine
form is always used for some expressions: la pleamar/bajamar
‘high/low tide’, en alta mar‘on the high seas’, hacerse a la mar‘to put
to sea’.
(b)Azúcar‘sugar’: widely used as masculine but occurs commonly with
feminine adjectives in forms such as azúcar blanca‘white sugar’,
extrafina‘caster/or’, granulada‘granulated’.
(c)Arte ‘art’: usually masculine in the singular, but always feminine in the
plural:las bellas artes ‘the fine arts’.
For regional variation of gender, see 30.6.2.
2.2.7
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Gender
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