Etymologically
Log in

homosexual

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˌhɒməʊˈsɛksjuːəl/, /ˌhɒməʊˈsɛkʃuːəl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English homo- + sexual,[2][3][4][5][6] after German homosexual, a word first printed in 1869 by K. M. Kertbeny, who had used it in a letter of 1868 beside heterosexual.[2] Etymonline notes the German word in Gustav Jäger by 1880;[7] Jäger took up Kertbeny's terms, and his work informed the sexologist Krafft-Ebing.[2] German now says homosexuell (from 1878), and French homosexuel is recorded from 1891.[2] The first element is Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós, “same”) and the second comes from Latin sexus (“sex”), so the word is a hybrid of Greek and Latin;[8][7][9] the Greek word is ultimately related to same.[9] Havelock Ellis called it "a barbarously hybrid word" in 1897, while granting that it was convenient.[7] The OED thinks that later uses referring to men in particular were probably influenced by a mistaken association with Latin homō (“human being, man”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sexually or romantically attracted to people of one's own sex: 1891, in J. A. Symonds's A Problem in Modern Ethics,[2] and 1892 in Merriam-Webster and Barnhart;[4][10] Etymonline cites C. G. Chaddock's 1892 translation of Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English as a clinical term in the writings of sexologists in the 1890s.[2][7] Earlier English terms were sexual inversion (1883) and inversion, which Ellis said came from Italian psychology.[7] The noun, a homosexual person, is recorded from 1894 in Edward Carpenter,[2] by 1895 in Etymonline[7] but only from 1912 in Barnhart, perhaps influenced by a French noun use of 1907.[10] In technical use the noun covers men and women, but in everyday use it has nearly always meant a man.[7][4] From 1894 the adjective also described things associated with or popular among homosexual people,[2] and since 1897 it has also described sexual activity between animals of the same sex.[2] The slang clipping homo is recorded by 1929.[7] In the 20th century gay largely replaced homosexual outside medical and formal contexts.[11]

Timeline

  • 1868 – German homosexual, in a letter by K. M. Kertbeny (printed 1869).[2]
  • 1891 – attracted to people of one's own sex.[2]
  • 1892 – in the English translation of Krafft-Ebing.[7][4]
  • 1894 – noun, a homosexual person; adjective, associated with homosexual people.[2]
  • 1897 – of sexual activity between animals of the same sex.[2]
  • 1929 – the slang clipping homo.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Sexually or romantically attracted to people of one's own sex; involving such attraction: a homosexual relationship.
  2. Of or relating to homosexual people or homosexuality.
  3. Of or relating to the same sex.
  4. Of animals, involving sexual activity between members of the same sex.

Noun

  1. A person who is attracted to members of the same sex, especially a man.

Word family

Usage notes

Dictionary.com notes that the word is now somewhat dated outside medical and formal use, that some people feel it is too clinical or puts too much stress on sexual activity, and that some associate it with the listing of homosexuality as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1986; gay has mostly replaced it, though not everyone in the gay community objects to it.[11] Its opposite is heterosexual.[4][12]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins