# סכין - masculine or feminine?



## sawyeric1

סכין - Wiktionary

"סכין •  M F" - strange


----------



## Drink

What's your question?


----------



## sawyeric1

"M F" is ambiguous


----------



## shalom00

Some words are used both as masculine and feminine. This is one.
Just be consistent.


----------



## sawyeric1

My tutor said M is prevalent


----------



## GeriReshef

sawyeric1 said:


> My tutor said M is prevalent


I think the feminine option is more common, but they are both used in spoken language.
In most of the other cases (שמש, רוח, דרך..) one option is more used, while the other sounds very literary.

[Off topic comment removed by moderator]


----------



## bazq

[Off topic comment removed by moderator]

As for the original topic - סכין is definitely one of the few words (the other one I can think of is עט) that are truly both M and F in colloquial speech. I really don't think anyone of them is more prevalent than the other. Pick one and be consistent.


----------



## GeriReshef

bazq said:


> [Off topic comment removed by moderator]
> 
> As for the original topic - סכין is definitely one of the few words (the other one I can think of is עט) that are truly both M and F in colloquial speech. I really don't think anyone of them is more prevalent than the other. Pick one and be consistent.


עט is M, in contrary to את (for digging) which is F.


----------



## bazq

GeriReshef said:


> עט is M, in contrary to את (for digging) which is F.



"עט is M" is prescriptive. I mentioned I was talking about colloquial speech. 
"העט לא כותבת", "עט מעפנה" are widespread.


----------



## GeriReshef

bazq said:


> "עט is M" is prescriptive. I mentioned I was talking about colloquial speech.
> "העט לא כותבת", "עט מעפנה" are widespread.


Treating עט as feminine is a mistake, in contrary to מעפנה which is a slang.
However, if I accept your attitude, there are many words, mainly in masculine, that are treated as feminine by many speakers: צומת, מכנסיים, משקפיים, מטבע, מצית, גרב


----------



## aavichai

מטבע ia both


----------



## bazq

GeriReshef said:


> Treating עט as feminine is a mistake, in contrary to מעפנה which is a slang.
> However, if I accept your attitude, there are many words, mainly in masculine, that are treated as feminine by many speakers: צומת, מכנסיים, משקפיים, מטבע, מצית, גרב



It's not my attitude (did you mean גישה?) you have to accept. It's just how native speakers talk.


----------

