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According to Translate.com, "the pan" is "el sartén".

According to Duolingo, the object suffers from gender confusion and can be either "el sartén" or "la sartén".

Why would it have two different genders, and why would such a basic word be a source of contention between two significant language sites?

jacobo
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B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven
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The RAE says:

sartén. (Del lat. sartāgo, -ĭnis). 1. f. Recipiente de cocina, generalmente de metal, de forma circular, poco hondo y con mango largo, que sirve para guisar. En muchos lugares de América y España, u. c. m.

u. c. m.: [usado como masculino]

It is indeed feminine, but even when the RAE prefers this it also accepts that is masculine in some other areas.

In México you'll hear el sartén but the TV always says things like Did you know that you should say la sartén instead of el sartén because the RAE says so?.

It is important if you say la o el but until you discover which is the best choice in the place you are staying, I think there's no going to be a problem.

jacobo
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Jaume
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It doesn't have 'two different genders', the DRAE states that its gender is feminine given that it comes from the latin sartago which was feminine as well; however, it also states that in different parts of America and Spain, it's known as masculine, mainly because many words that end in —én are masculine:

Andén, edén, almacén, etc.

If you're still doubting which one you should use, I'd advise you to go with la sartén. It doesn't really matter where you are, you'll be understood perfectly, people might be taken aback if they're used to el sartén but it shouldn't represent a big deal.

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Nicholas J.
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The difference is built in social use. In Chile we say "el sartén" and "la sartén" sounds weird but we understand and accept both uses, realizing that "la" is being used by a non-Chilean speaker.

No one wonders why "el monte" (mount) is masculine and "la montaña" (mountain) is feminine. In objects, gender is a historical consequence of use, not the execution of rules.

Rodrigo
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    Maybe such words should be called "hermaphrodites" or some form of that. – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Nov 07 '14 at 15:31
  • I think you mean "sustantivos ambiguos". I find it very odd and not really professional to call a word "hermaphrodite". However, I still believe that we should encourage the use of la sartén since it's in compliance with its roots. – Nicholas J. Nov 07 '14 at 15:59
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    The word hermaphrodite was quoted by B. Clay Shannon. It is not problem with of professionalism. Is a metaphor. – Rodrigo Nov 07 '14 at 16:15
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    No need to use an analogy to give a name to words that already have one, and even then, sartén isn't categorised as such. – Nicholas J. Nov 07 '14 at 17:05
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According to RAE sartén is feminine, so it is always la sartén and never "el sartén".

I can confirm you that none of these words have two genders. I have never heard "el sartén". I think that duolingo in this case is not to be trusted.

Diego
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    Diego, you should check out the clarification made by the RAE at the end of the first definition. – Nicholas J. Nov 07 '14 at 15:05
  • Could you elaborate what you mean? Could you give me an example where pan is referred as feminine? – Diego Nov 07 '14 at 15:11
  • I was talking about sartén. – Nicholas J. Nov 07 '14 at 15:11
  • Could you elaborate what you mean? Could you give me an example where sartén is referred as masculine? – Diego Nov 07 '14 at 15:44
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    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=el+sart%C3%A9n%2C+la+sart%C3%A9n&year_start=1800&year_end=2014&corpus=21&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cel%20sart%C3%A9n%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cla%20sart%C3%A9n%3B%2Cc0 Take a look. Though the usage of la sartén is way more common, el sartén is used as well. You can always look up books that contain the word el sartén and you'll find many of these are for food recipes. – Nicholas J. Nov 07 '14 at 15:54
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    @Diego in the RAE, the last bit of the first definition says "u. c. m" "usado como masculino" – user0721090601 Nov 07 '14 at 16:18
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    @Diego as a native spanish speaker I can tell you that I use "El sartén" , I do have heard "La sartén" and I agree with Jerson and Rodrigo that EL/La,for this particular case, depends on the country – Newbie Nov 07 '14 at 17:52
  • OK, I learnt something new today. I guess that this might be one of those times that the RAE accepts an a use that "doesn't follow the rules" because is getting more extensively used. Thanks all. – Diego Nov 08 '14 at 01:07
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    Tienes q tener en cuenta q el rae es muy lento actualizandose, y la gebte evoluciona mas rapido. – Emilio Gort Nov 08 '14 at 14:14
  • @EmilioGort, no sé si el RAE es lento o simplemente termina por claudicar, como en el tuit-broma de alomojó: – Diego Nov 08 '14 at 14:17
  • Si creo q es lento, he estado en muchos paises de habla hispana, y son un mundo distinto cada uno. Escribo desde el cel. – Emilio Gort Nov 08 '14 at 14:21
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    Y en cuba se usa 'la sarten' – Emilio Gort Nov 08 '14 at 14:25