♀

A (copper/bronze) handmirror, symbol of the Roman goddess Venus. The cross was added in the 16th century to Christianize the symbol of a pagan god.

♀︎

Classical form of the symbol

1. (biology) female
   • 1961 August 17, New Scientist, volume 11, number 248 (in English), Reed Business Information, ISSN 0262-4079, page 413:

     In his Mantissa Plantarum (1767) and Mantissa Plantarum altera (1771), [Linnaeus] regularly used ♂, ♀ and ☿ for male, female and hermaphrodite flowers respectively.

   • 1990, Charles S. Churcher, “Cranial Appendages of Giraffoidea”, George A. Bubenik, Anthony B. Bubenik, Horns, Pronghorns, and Antlers: Evolution, Morphology, Physiology, and Social Significance, New York: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, chapter 1.5, page 183:

     Figure 2. Ossicones, secondary ossification, and sinuses of Giraffa: A Lateral aspect of skull showing courses of veins, areas of dense ossification (heavily stippled) and lesser secondary ossification (lightly stippled), and outlines of skull roofs of male (♂) and female (♀) adults. (After Spinage 1968b.)

   • 2015 July 6, Andy Burns, “Re: C4 last leg”, in uk.tech.broadcast, Usenet‎ (in English):

     I was quite surprised that a few of my friends found the male ♂ (mars) and female ♀ (venus) symbols on toilets in pubs/bars confusing ...

2. (botany, of a flower) pistillate, carpellate
3. (astronomy, astrology) Venus
4. (alchemy) (archaic) copper
5. (rare) Friday (refers to the Latin phrase dies Veneris, which literally means "Venus's day")

• (biology): ♂

• 🜠 copper ore
• 🜡 copper–iron ore
• 🜢 sublimate of copper
• 🜣 crocus of copper
• 🜥 copper antimoniate
• ⚢
• ⚤‎

• Gender symbol on Wikipedia.Wikipedia