♀

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

♀︎

1. (biology) female.
   • 1961 August 17, New Scientist, volume 11, number 248 (in English), Reed Business Information, →ISSN, 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".

Use of ♀ for Friday, on the left side of the calendar dial of this 13th-century clock tower.

• (biology): ♂

• (alchemy): 🜠 – copper ore.

🜡 – copper–iron ore.

🜢 – sublimate of copper.

🜣 – crocus of copper.

🜥 – copper antimoniate.

• (gender): ⚢ – lesbian.

⚤ – heterosexual.

• (botany): ♀-♂ – monoecious.

♀:♂ – dioecious.

• Gender symbol on Wikipedia.Wikipedia