sexus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *seksus, from Proto-Indo-European *séksus, from *sek- (“to cut”), thus meaning section, division (into male and female).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsek.sus/, [ˈs̠ɛks̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsek.sus/, [ˈsɛksus]

Noun

sexus m (genitive sexūs); fourth declension

1. division
2. sex; gender

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sexus	sexūs
Genitive	sexūs	sexuum
Dative	sexuī	sexibus
Accusative	sexum	sexūs
Ablative	sexū	sexibus
Vocative	sexus	sexūs

Synonyms

• (sex): secus

Descendants

• Catalan: sexe
• English: sex
• French: sexe
• Italian: sesso

• Portuguese: sexo
• Romanian: sex
• Spanish: sexo

References

• “sexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sexus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• sexus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the male, female sex: sexus (not genus) virilis, muliebris