For the longest time, “An adult female human being” was the standard definition of ‘woman’ by Cambridge Dictionary. This denotes how women were solely described by their biological disposition. Yet, after careful study, the Cambridge Dictionary spokesperson expressed that the descriptors for the word ‘woman’ need to be updated.
In addition to the longtime definition, Cambridge Dictionary now defines ‘woman’ as, “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” For the new entry’s usage, Cambridge provided examples such as, “She was the first trans woman elected to a national office,” and, “Mary is a woman who was assigned male at birth.”
The spokesperson elaborated that definitions go forward with time, “Our dictionaries are written for learners of English and are designed to help users understand English as it is currently used."
Along with this, Cambridge also expands its definition for the word ‘man’ that is now inclusive of transgender men having the descriptor, “an adult who lives and identifies as male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.” The dictionary also provides new examples: “Mark is a trans man (= a man who was said to be female when they were born)” and “Their doctor encouraged them to live as a man for a while before undergoing surgical transition”.
Dictionary.com, who named ‘woman’ as its word of the year, points out the significance of descriptors provided to a word especially those that seem ambiguous and controversial. “This year, the search for the word woman on Dictionary.com spiked significantly multiple times in relation to separate high-profile events, including the moment when a question about the very definition of the word was posed on the national stage,” the online reference site elaborated.
This pertains to the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson where she was asked by Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn to “provide a definition for the word ‘woman’”.