deriv LSK ETT STT aSTA ALPH OLDHOMEPAGE NEWHOMEPAGE
With very few exceptions, bases that mean an obviously male creature will have the masculine gender, and bases meaning an obvious female will have the feminine gender. For other bases, the gender has no logic at all. The gender cannot be predicted from the meaning.
Yet, even bases that are clearly always masculine or always feminine because they mean an obviously male or female creature will take all grammatical genders when they are at the end of a descriptive /samAsa —
bahu-puGgavA- बहुॱपुङ्गवाॱ f a woman owning many bulls
bahu-dhenu- बहुॱधेनुॱ f a woman owning many milkcows
bahu-dhenu- बहुॱधेनुॱ m a man owning many milkcows
bahu-dhenu- बहुॱधेनुॱ n a farm in which there are many milkcows