bisexual

Etymology

It is formed from English bi- + sexual,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and sexual goes back to Late Latin sexuālis, from Latin sexus (“sex”).^[7][3] In the sense of attraction to both sexes it followed German bisexuell, recorded by 1894, and bisexuality; French bisexuel is recorded in botany in 1826 and in this sense in 1906.^[2] The OED compares the earlier bisexous and bisexed;^[2] Etymonline dates bisexous to 1838 and bisexuous to 1856, both meaning hermaphrodite.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of both sexes; in biology, having male and female characteristics in the same individual, hermaphroditic: 1793, in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.^[2][4] Etymonline and the first edition of the OED date this sense to 1824,^[3][8] and the Random House dictionaries to 1815–25.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

For most of the 19th century the word belonged to biology: it was used of things involving both sexes or suited to both men and women from 1838, and in zoology of species with separate male and female individuals from 1842, in a manuscript of Darwin's.^[2] The noun began in biology too, for such an organism (1855) and for a hermaphrodite (1879).^[2] The sense "sexually attracted to both men and women" came from psychology and psychoanalysis, after bisexuell:^[2] the OED's first quotation is from a 1906 translation of Weininger's Sex and Character, Etymonline's from 1914,^[2][3] and the noun for such a person is recorded from 1912 in the OED and Merriam-Webster;^[2][4] Etymonline dates it to 1922.^[3] According to Etymonline the word was not in general use in this sense until the 1950s.^[3] In the early 20th century ambisexual was proposed for it, and Ferenczi, in a 1916 translation, suggested ambisexuality in psychology instead of "bisexual predisposition".^[3] The botanical sense survives, especially for a flower with both stamens and pistils.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1793 – having both male and female characteristics in one individual.^[2][4]
• 1824 – Etymonline's date for "hermaphroditic".^[3][8]
• 1838 – involving both sexes; suitable for both men and women.^[2]
• 1842 – zoology, having separate male and female individuals (Darwin).^[2]
• 1855 – noun, an organism with separate male and female individuals.^[2]
• 1879 – noun, a hermaphrodite organism.^[2]
• 1906 – attracted to people of both sexes.^[2]
• 1912 – noun, a bisexual person.^[2][4]
• 1950s – in general use in the sense of sexual attraction.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Sexually or romantically attracted to people of more than one gender, traditionally to both men and women.
2. (biology) Having both male and female reproductive organs; hermaphroditic; of a flower, having both stamens and pistils.
3. (zoology) Of a species, made up of separate male and female individuals.
4. Involving or relating to both sexes: bisexual reproduction.

Noun

1. A bisexual person.
2. A bisexual organism; a hermaphrodite.

Word family

• bisexuality
• bisexually

Related words

• homosexual
• heterosexual
• ambisexual

Usage notes

Traditionally the word referred to attraction to two genders, male and female, but it is increasingly used for attraction to people of more than one gender, including those outside the gender binary;^[10][12] many bisexual people and advocacy groups define it that way.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins