Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
Woman or young female, from a root tied to suckling rather than to male.
Modern meaning
Of the sex that bears young; a woman or female organism.
Research lens
This is a good archive lesson in how spelling convergence can impersonate etymology and produce a persuasive but false origin story.
Meaning trail
Root
woman or she who suckles
The older Latin family is separate from male.
Bridge
female human then female more generally
The category broadened across species and uses.
Now
sex label and adjective
The spelling similarity to male misleads modern readers.