Were the words "woman" and "female" produced after the words "man" and "male"? [closed]

Solution 1:

Whilst this is half correct in regards to the word 'woman' coming about after the word 'man', it is slightly incorrect about the etymology of the terms.

The term 'woman' does come from the Old English 'wifman', as 'man' was used to refer to humans of all genders; men were referred to as 'wermen' - hence the term 'werewolf' (man wolf).[1][2]

As for 'male' and 'female', 'female' was later remodeled around the word 'male', so again this isn't entirely (or even mostly) wrong, but it prior to this there wasn't a shared etymological root; 'male' came from the old French 'malle', which itself came from a diminutive of the Latin 'Masculus'; whereas 'female' came from the Old French 'Femele', which came from the diminutive of the Latin 'Femina'.[3][4]

Sources

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman#Etymology

[2]http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=werewolf

[3]http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=male

[4]http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=female