Consistency

Question

I was surprised that 'monosílabo', una palabra monosilábica (o una palabra monosílaba), is masculine, although 'sílaba' and 'palabra' are feminine. Am I expecting consistency where I shouldn't be?

Answer 1

I still can't figure out why el vestido (dress) is a masculine noun.

Why the confusion? Does it have to be masculine just because women wear them? What about la camiseta? Men wear camisetas. Does camiseta have to be masculine then?

Yes, Good reasoning Deanski :) - FELIZ77, Apr 20, 2011

yes, It's impssible to change, it's still confusing for me, though. (I'm only in my first year of spanish) - jtt96, Apr 21, 2011

Though I guess I remember it because of that. So maybe it's a good thing for my retention level. :) - jtt96, Apr 21, 2011

Answer 2

Monosílabo/a as an adjective can be used with both feminine and masculine nouns.

Although the "rule" says that words ending with "a" are feminine and those ending in "o" are masculine, there are many exceptions to this "rule," e.g., la mano, etc.

Also, many words of Greek origin are masculine, e.g., el tema, etc.

Some word are still feminine but used with a masculine article, e.g., el agua, to avoid awkward pronunciation.

El tema is masculine in Spanish,but in Greek is neuter .In the Greek language there are three genres. - faliron, Apr 20, 2011

Answer 3

I looked up monosílabo at www.rae.es at the derivation is from Latin,. monosyll?bus and in Latin, words ending with "us" are masculine. So by etymology/history monosílabo would be masculine. (I suspect that in old Rome where women were seldom taught to read or write, anything to do with erudition, discussion, etc. was something pertaining to men. On the other hand, when a man got home from his discussions, etc. and heard from the women in his household, he concluded that words (las palabras) were the proper field of women!) [removed]void(0);

Answer 4

I think there are many exceptions in Spanish. I still can't figure out why el vestido (dress) is a masculine noun.