Illustrative Context

I saw a man and a woman.

Target Sense

• The most generic term for an adult human female.
• In most languages this will be the term that is directly paired with the term for the IE-CoR meaning man, in basic phrases such as man or woman, man and woman, as in the illustrative context.
• Avoid terms that inherently carry more specific senses of any type:
  • Avoid terms specific to the place of a woman in a relationship, marriage or kinship. In many languages, the most basic and generic term is also used as a translation equivalent to English wife, e.g. French femme, German Frau. This is not an issue; but do not enter terms specific to the sense of wife, e.g. French épouse.
  • Avoid specific terms for younger or older women.
  • Avoid weighted terms that inherently carry honorific or judgmental value: e.g. lady, French dame.
  • Avoid terms that specifically highlight perceived femininity.
  • Avoid terms that are used to focus more narrowly as explicitly female, rather than more equally both female and adult.
• The neutral-register term: avoid literary or poetic words, and slang or colloquial terms, e.g. English dame, lass, etc..
• See also the IE-CoR meaning man.