l'Antarctique should be masculine?

Question

You write that all continents are feminine in French, but Antarctica (l'Antarctique) is masculine I think?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Selina,
You are correct! "L'Antarctique" (continent) is masculine. We've amended the lesson to explain this particularity.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Selina, yes I have seen and thought correct that “ l’Antarctique “ the ‘(non)-continent’ is classified as masculine also (including both dictionaries below), but some sites suggest feminine.

Historically, in French teaching Antarctica is not considered as a continent.

There are only 5 continents in traditional French classification. Hence the 5 Olympic rings !

See links below :

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french/antarctica

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/antarctique

https://www.frenchpod101.com/french-vocabulary-lists/continents

https://study.com/academy/lesson/continents-in-french.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-french-prepositions-with-countries-4084855

PPS - after further searching, further confusion as the site below distinguishes according to ‘l’Antarctique’, the ‘continent’ being feminine, but ‘l’Antarctique’ the ocean being masculine. I believe that ‘masculine’ is definitely correct for the ocean !

https://www.dictionary-french-english.com/en/dictionary-french-english/Antarctique