sex English · revision 3543

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1382|origins=la sexus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /seks/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|sex]], [[bor|la|sexus|t=a sex, the state of being male or female]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) perhaps through Old French [[m|fro|sexe]].^(SOED 2002)^(COED 2004)^(Hoad 1986) The Latin word is of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) It is commonly connected with [[m|la|secāre|t=to cut, divide]], as if it meant a “division” of the race,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)^(MWU 2024) but de Vaan, quoted by Etymonline, finds the formation unclear beside the parallel Latin [[m|la|secus]].^(Etymonline) It is related to [[section]] and [[sect]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Either of the two divisions of living beings, male and female, or the members of one collectively: 1382,^(OED 1989) or about 1380 in Chaucer's ''Boethius''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hoad notes that the word was rare before the 16th century.^(Hoad 1986) The quality of being male or female, with reference to animals, is recorded by the 1520s,^(Etymonline) and the word was extended to plants by the 1560s.^(Etymonline) Women have been ''the fair sex'' or ''the weaker sex'' since the mid-16th century,^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) and ''the sex'' alone meant womankind from the 1580s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Etymonline quotes Thomas Wright's remark that Old English seems to have had no abstract word for sex.^(Etymonline) The meaning “sexual intercourse”, as in ''have sex'', dates only from the start of the 20th century, D. H. Lawrence being among the first to use it.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline) The verb “to determine the sex of” is from 1884,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''sex up'', “to make sexier”, from 1942,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and the slang verb “to have sex” from 1966.^(OED 1989)^(Dalzell 2013) The genitals have been called one's ''sex'' since 1938.^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1382 – one of the two sexes.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1520s – the quality of being male or female.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-16th century – ''the fair sex'', ''the weaker sex''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1560s – of plants.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1580s – ''the sex'', womankind.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1884 – verb, to determine the sex of.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 20th century – sexual intercourse.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1942 – ''sex up''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1966 – verb, to have sex (slang).^(OED 1989)^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Either of the two divisions, female and male, into which many organisms are classified by their [[reproduction|alt=reproductive]] functions.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Females or males considered as a group.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # The condition of being female or male.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # [[sexual intercourse|alt=Sexual intercourse]] or other sexual activity.^(AHD)^(Cresswell 2021)

+ # ''(literary)'' The [[genitals]].^(AHD)^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To determine the sex of, as of chicks.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(sex up)'' To arouse sexually, or to make more appealing.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sexual]]

+ * [[sexuality]]

+ * [[sexualize]]

+ * [[sexy]]

+ * [[sexism]]

+ * [[section]]

+ * [[sect]]

+ * [[bisexual]]

+ * [[unisex]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Word Origins'' notes that ''sexy'', in the literal sense, is from the 1890s, and in the sense “exciting, appealing” from the 1950s.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}