bisexual
English
Etymology
From bi- + -sexual. Attested about 1808 as a synonym in botany for "hermaphroditic" ("having male and female parts").[1] First used of sexuality in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's 1886 Psychopathia Sexualis (in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof, due to the theory people were naturally attracted to the opposite sex and the brain or mind of a person attracted to "both" sexes (or the same sex) must be partly of the opposite sex and thus "hermaphroditic".[2]
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /baɪˈsɛk.ʃu.əl/
Adjective
bisexual (comparative more bisexual, superlative most bisexual)
- (of humans or other animals) Sexually attracted to both men and women (by a narrow definition) or to people of multiple or any genders (by a broad definition; compare pansexual).
- Synonyms: (slang) AC/DC, (jocular) ambidextrous, (colloquial) bi, omnifutuent
- (chiefly botany) Having both male and female parts or functions.
- (botany) Of flowers: having both pollen and seeds.
- (botany) Of sporophytes: having both male and female organs.
- (botany) Of gametophytes: producing both eggs and sperm.
- (botany) Of fungi: producing both the "female" ascogonium and the "male" antheridium.
- (rare) Hermaphroditic/intersex, being both male and female, or alternating between being male and being female.
- Midrash and Zohar present Adam as hermaphroditic or bisexual.
- 2004, Lois Bragg, Oedipus Borealis: The Aberrant Body in Old Icelandic Myth and Saga (→ISBN):
- To say that Loki is bisexual means that he readily alternates between the male and female sexes, becoming female at will or as needed.
- 2013, Zainab Bahrani, Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia (→ISBN):
- Among the arguments put forth for Ishtar's hermaphroditic or bisexual character is the practice of transvestism in religious rites associated with her (e.g. Harris 2000: 170; Groneberg 1986: 39).
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bisexual.
Synonyms
- (botany: having male and female organs): perfect, hermaphrodite
- See also Thesaurus:bisexual
Hyponyms
Coordinate terms
- (sexual orientations) sexual orientation; asexual (-ity, ace), bisexual (-ity, bi), demisexual (-ity, demi), graysexual (-ity), heterosexual (-ity, straight), homosexual (-ity, gay, lesbian), omnisexual (-ity), pansexual (-ity, pan), plurisexual (-ity), polysexual (-ity), robosexual (-ity), sapiosexual (-ity), androsexual (-ity), gynesexual (-ity), vegansexual (-ity) (Category: en:Sexual orientations)
Related terms
Translations
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Noun
bisexual (plural bisexuals)
- A person who is bisexual.
- 1984, Women and deviance, page 63:
- Several chapters are devoted to the investigations of the origins and influences prevalent in the life of a bisexual with the latter portion of the book devoted to three extensive in-depth interviews with three bisexuals.
- 1984, Women and deviance, page 63:
- (botany, rare) A plant or fungus, or part thereof, which is bisexual.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:bisexual
Translations
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See also
- (sexual orientations) sexual orientation; asexual (-ity, ace), bisexual (-ity, bi), demisexual (-ity, demi), graysexual (-ity), heterosexual (-ity, straight), homosexual (-ity, gay, lesbian), omnisexual (-ity), pansexual (-ity, pan), plurisexual (-ity), polysexual (-ity), robosexual (-ity), sapiosexual (-ity), androsexual (-ity), gynesexual (-ity), vegansexual (-ity) (Category: en:Sexual orientations)
References
- ^ In Robert John Thornton, Reformed Sexual System of Linnaeus, in The Philosophical Magazine (1808), and thereafter in James Lee, Introduction to the Science of Botany (1810), which includes a call to eschew hermaphrodite in favor of it.
- ^ Besides Krafft-Ebing's and Chaddock's works, e.g. the 1906 English translation of Otto Weininger's 1903 Geschlecht und Charakter (Sex and Character) says certain people have "from the beginning an inclination to both sexes; they are, in fact, bisexual." The 1915 edition of Havelock Ellis's Sexual Inversion also shows the sense development: "there is sexual attraction to both sexes, a condition formerly called psychosexual hermaphroditism, but now more usually bisexuality."
Catalan
Pronunciation
Adjective
bisexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural bisexuals)
Noun
bisexual m or f (plural bisexuals)
Related terms
Interlingua
Adjective
bisexual (not comparable)
Noun
bisexual (plural bisexuales)
Romanian
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
bisexual m or n (feminine singular bisexuală, masculine plural bisexuali, feminine and neuter plural bisexuale)
Declension
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | bisexual | bisexuală | bisexuali | bisexuale | ||
definite | bisexualul | bisexuala | bisexualii | bisexualele | |||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | bisexual | bisexuale | bisexuali | bisexuale | ||
definite | bisexualului | bisexualei | bisexualelor | bisexualilor |
Noun
bisexual m (plural bisexuali, feminine equivalent bisexuală)
Declension
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) bisexual | bisexualul | (niște) bisexuali | bisexualii |
genitive/dative | (unui) bisexual | bisexualului | (unor) bisexuali | bisexualilor |
vocative | bisexualule | bisexualilor |
Related terms
Spanish
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
bisexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural bisexuales)
Noun
bisexual m or f (plural bisexuales)
- English terms prefixed with bi-
- English terms suffixed with -sexual
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- en:Botany
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Sexual orientations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:LGBT
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns with no feminine ending
- Catalan masculine nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns
- Catalan nouns with multiple genders
- ca:LGBT
- ca:Sexual orientations
- Interlingua lemmas
- Interlingua adjectives
- Interlingua nouns
- ia:LGBT
- ia:Sexuality
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian adjectives
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian masculine nouns
- ro:Sexual orientations
- Spanish terms prefixed with bi-
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/al
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Spanish feminine nouns
- Spanish nouns with multiple genders
- es:LGBT
- es:People
- es:Sexual orientations