Over the last few years it has become clear to me that the words gender1 and gender2 exist with quite distinct meanings, and for both meanings the pronunciation is the same. Gender1 is clearly defined in the Oxford Dictionary as being a grammatical attribute of nouns and only of nouns. But even casual reading of diverse literary sources will show that gender2 is used such a way that implies that it is a distinctly different word, because any attempt to make it fit the dictionary definition for gender1 ends in failure.
I have puzzled over the meaning of gender2, but if you see a word used often enough you can usually divine its meaning. After applying this technique I have arrived at this definition of gender2:
the meaning of gender2 is identical to that of "sex" except that it is only applicable to members of the human race.
Let me illustrate - if a biologist were to report on a study of the frog population of a particular pond his report could read in part:
MATURITY: There were 31 mature and 40 immature frogs.However when the Head of School reports on the population of the School his report reads in part:
GENDER: There are 6 female and 30 male staff members of the ......If you are not at ease with my definition of gender2 I would be pleased to hear an alternative. But remember it has to be formal and concise enough to allow gender2 to be used in reviewed papers, University reports and rules that can result in disciplinary action.
The words icon1 and icon2 also exist. Icon1 is concisely defined and is
familiar to readers of the great Russian authors. Icon2 is more elusive - all sorts of things can
be icon2s: graphic symbols (Apple and MS), people (paper at an engineering conference), neon signs
(ABC presenter) - and my current definition is a bit rough:
the meaning of icon2 identical to that of "symbol" with the additional feature that its use
implies that the user is an expert in his/her* field,
but I am working on it.