Japanese

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) メ​ス [méꜜsù] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [me̞sɯᵝ]

Noun

メス ‎(romaji mesu)

1. (medicine) scalpel, lancet, medical knife

Idioms

Etymology 2

From French Metz, the name of a city in the Lorraine region of northeast France.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [me̞sɯᵝ]

Proper noun

メス ‎(romaji Mesu)

1. the city of Metz, France

Synonyms

• メッツ ‎(Mettsu) (from the German pronunciation)

Etymology 3

The katakana rendering of 雌 ‎(mesu, “female”, for non-human contexts).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) メス​ [mèsúꜜ] (Odaka - [2])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [me̞sɯᵝ]

Alternative forms

• 雌, 牝

Noun

メス ‎(romaji mesu)

1. (biology, non-human) female

Usage notes

The term mesu refers to female with regard to non-human organisms.

The katakana spelling is more common in biology contexts. Of the kanji spellings, 雌 appears to be somewhat more common.

Synonyms

• (human female): 女性 (じょせい) ‎(josei)

Antonyms

• (non-human male): オス ‎(osu)
• (human male): 男性 (だんせい) ‎(dansei)

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9