heterosexual

Etymology

It is formed from English hetero- + sexual,^{[2][3][1][4][5]} after the German word heterosexual,^[2] a hybrid of Greek and Latin elements:^[3][6] Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros, “the other of two, different”)^[6][3] and Late Latin sexuālis (“relating to sex”), from sexus (“sex”).^[3][6] The German adjective goes back to K. M. Kertbeny, who used it in a letter of 6 May 1868 together with homosexual;^[2] through G. Jäger his terms reached R. von Krafft-Ebing's “Psychopathia Sexualis”, whose English translation of 1892 is the first English record.^[2][3] In German both words were later replaced by heterosexuell and homosexuell.^[2] Merriam-Webster classes the word as International Scientific Vocabulary.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sexually attracted to, or engaging in sexual activity with, people of the opposite sex: 1892, in C. G. Chaddock's translation of Krafft-Ebing's “Psychopathia Sexualis”,^[2][3] where it was originally a term of psychology and psychoanalysis.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a heterosexual person, is recorded by the OED from 1892, in a letter of J. A. Symonds to Havelock Ellis,^[2] and by Merriam-Webster from 1913;^[7] Etymonline dates it to 1914 and notes that it was not in common use until the 1960s.^[3] From 1912 the adjective was also used, chiefly in biology, of things belonging to or occurring between individuals of opposite sexes, such as fraternal twins of different sex,^[2][8] and since 1927 of anything relating to heterosexual people.^[2] The colloquial clipping hetero is recorded from 1933.^[3] Collins gives straight as an informal synonym.^[9]

Timeline

• 1868 – German heterosexual, in a letter by Kertbeny.^[2]
• 1892 – adjective and noun, in English.^[2][3][7]
• 1912 – of or between individuals of opposite sexes, in biology.^[2]
• 1914 – the noun, according to Etymonline.^[3]
• 1927 – relating to heterosexual people.^[2]
• 1933 – the clipping hetero.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sexually or romantically attracted to people of the opposite sex: a heterosexual man.^[9][7][2]
2. Relating to or involving such attraction or sexual activity, or relating to heterosexuality: heterosexual relationships.^[9][7][2]
3. (biology) Of or between individuals of opposite sexes.^[2][7]

Noun

1. A heterosexual person.^[9][7][2]

Word family

• heterosexually
• heterosexuality

Related words

• homosexual
• bisexual
• hetero
• sexual
• heterogeneous

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 r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins