so far is towards the increasing use of the common gender, at the expense of the masculine/feminine distinction. Although this process has long been completed in the spoken language of the north, the three-gender structure is still widespread in the south, though some suggest it is slowly losing ground due to the increase of language contact through mass media like television and the Internet. Some dictionaries have dropped the distinction between the two genders entirely, preferring to mark words with their definite article de (common) or het (neuter), whereas others like the Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal—the largest Dutch dictionary—retain it. Because the feminine gender of nouns tends to be respected in formal or written language, which tends to follow the standard more strictly, this sometimes also results in hypercorrection, caused by the perceived formality of the feminine gender, with feminine pronouns occasionally used for nouns that are historically masculine, and even for nouns that are neuter. The following list reflects the use of gender that is prescribed for standard Dutch and used by the Language Union and educational material for teaching gender. It is not exhaustive, and covers only cases that follow some recognizable pattern. Many words have unpredictable gender and simply have to be memorized (and will be f/m in the standard, if not neuter). Masculine nouns Words referring to animate entities whose natural gender is masculine: oom "uncle" hengst "stallion" However, diminutives such as jongetje "little boy" are neuter nouns. Nouns for professions (which are often historically masculine) may also be treated as gender-neutral, and are then either masculine or feminine depending on the referent. Words not referring to animate entities ending in the following suffixes, which mostly form agent nouns, are masculine: -aar – handelaar "merchant" -aard – dronkaard "drunkard" -er – bakker "baker" -erd – engerd "creep" -eur – directeur "manager" -or – kolonisator "colonizer" -us – politicus "politician" There are a few exceptions, such as: offer "sacrifice", neuter Abstract deverbal nouns are normally masculine: bloei "blossoming", from bloeien "to blossom" dank "thanks", from danken "to thank" groei "growth", from groeien "to grow" schrik "fear", from schrikken "to be frightened" slaap "sleep", from slapen "to sleep" New abstract nouns formed in this way are always masculine, but existing ones may be feminine, particularly if they are older words. Feminine nouns Words referring to beings whose natural gender is feminine: tante "aunt" merrie "mare" This includes words