How do Naro noun endings change the meanings of related words?

In the Naro language, which belongs to the Khoe language group, noun endings function as gender markers—masculine, feminine, or common—that can significantly alter the meaning of a root word based on semantic distinctions such as shape, specificity, or countability.1

For example, applying different gender suffixes to the same root can change the word's definition:

• tsa-: tsa-ba (masculine) refers to a borehole, tsa-sa (feminine) refers to a pan or water in a pan, and tsa-ne (common) refers to water.1
• |’e-: |’e-ba (masculine) is a match or piece of firewood, |’e-sa (feminine) is a fire, and |’e-ne (common) is firewood.1
• tsau-: tsau-ba (masculine) refers to a finger, while tsau-sa (feminine) refers to the whole hand.1

These suffixes are part of a broader system in Khoe languages where gender assignment for inanimate nouns, while sometimes arbitrary, often aligns with semantic categories like long, narrow objects (masculine) versus short, broad, or round objects (feminine).1