Why do we put ress at the end of some words, like actress, mayoress and murderess, but not for others like doctress, accountantress, or teacheress?

201 views

Why do we put ress at the end of some words, like actress, mayoress and murderess, but not for others like doctress, accountantress, or teacheress?

In: 12609

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

In some languages such as French they do have feminine forms of titles like doctor, they they aren’t always used either.

In English at least the lack of doctress likely has to do with how long it took until women were allowed to be doctors. At that point the term was already established. Teacher may have been the opposite with the role being primarily filled with women for a long period so there was again not likely seen much of a need to differentiate.

Ultimately English vocabulary and styles can be wildly inconsistent due to terms entering usage from various other languages at various times. There is no singular authority on English so there’s not always a reason beyond that’s how the language usage occurred over time.

You are viewing 1 out of 8 answers, click here to view all answers.