Question

Identify the feminine form of the noun : Lion
a. Liona
b. Lionine
c. Lioness
d. She-Lion

Answer 1

Hint: To identify the female counterpart of the given noun, a suffix needs to be added at the end of the given noun, lion. The suffix required in this particular case is “-ess”, without dropping the “n” in lion.

Complete step-by-step answer:

Here, we are required to identify the female counterpart of the given noun, i.e. lion. The feminine form of lion is made by adding a suffix at the end of the word, the suffix is “-ess”, while keeping the “n” in lion. This same method goes for tiger, whose feminine form is “tigress” and leopard becomes “leopardess”. Option c, lioness, is the correct answer.

Option a, liona is not a word in the English language, hence is an incorrect choice. Option b is again, not a word in the English language.

Now, option d, she-lion, while the prefix “she-” is used in feminine forms of some nouns, like wolf becomes “she-wolf”, it is incorrect in the case of “lion”, because that is not the correct form.

Note: In the case of feminine forms of nouns, the best way to make sure that one gets the answer right is to know the feminine form of as many nouns as possible. Even though there are certain rules that can be applied to certain groups of nouns, but as a whole, there is no fixed use of certain suffixes or prefixes in certain nouns.