Male

For other uses, see Male (disambiguation).

Male is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces sperm. The "sperm" is defined as the smaller gamete in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the larger gamete is produced by the female. A male individual cannot reproduce without sexual intercourse with a female.

There is no single genetic mechanism behind sex differences in different species, and the existence of two sexes in one species seems to have evolved multiple times independently. What actually differentiates a female from a male is not always apparent, and in some cases is more a question of definition than anything else. 'Female' and 'male' designate reproductive structures in plants, so the concept is not just limited to animals.

A common symbol used to represent the male gender is ♂ (Unicode: U+2642), a circle with an arrow pointing northeast. This is a stylized representation of the god Mars' shield and spear.

See also

• Man and boy, male humans