Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-mobile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and males are results of the anisogamous reproduction system, wherein gametes are of different sizes, unlike isogamy where they are the same size. The exact mechanism of female gamete evolution remains unknown.
In species that have males and females, sex-determination is based on either chromosomes, or environmental conditions. Most female mammals, including female humans, have two X chromosomes. Female characteristics vary between different species with some species having pronounced female characteristics, such as the presence of pronounced mammary glands in mammals.
The word female can also be used to refer to gender.
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