sessuale Italian · revision 38755

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1813|origins=la sexus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ses.suˈa.le/, /sesˈswa.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sessuale''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural sessuali)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la-lat|sexuālis|t=relating to sex]], used by Caelius Aurelianus and formed on [[m|la|sexus|t=sex]] with the suffix [[m|la|-ālis]].^(DEI|3467)^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) DEI suggests that it came in through [[fr|sexuel]], which it dates to 1775, and GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti also compare the French word, which GRADIT dates to 1742.^(DEI|3467)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ GRADIT dates the word to 1813 and Zingarelli to 1819.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) DELI's first record is Antonio Rosmini (1841), in the general sense “relating to sex”;^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give 1865.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 19th century ''sessuale'' was a learned word of natural history: Tommaseo's dictionary records ''organi sessuali'', also of plants.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(DEI|3467) The noun ''sessualità'' is also of the 19th century.^(DEI|3467) In the 20th century the word moved from anatomy and biology to behaviour and society, in phrases such as ''educazione sessuale'' and ''rivoluzione sessuale'', the term of the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich for freeing sexual life from social constraint.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1813 – ''Sessuale'' is first recorded.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1841 – Rosmini uses it.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ * 19th century – ''Sessualità'' is recorded.^(DEI|3467)

+ * 1865 – The word enters the dictionaries.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Relating to [[m|en|sex]] in its anatomical and physiological aspects: ''organi sessuali'', ''riproduzione sessuale''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Relating to [[sessualità|alt=sexuality]] and sexual behaviour, in its social and psychological aspects: ''Il corso parla anche di salute sessuale.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sessualità]]

+ * [[sessualmente]]

+ * [[asessuale]]

+ * [[transessuale]]

+ * [[intersessuale]]

+ * [[sessualizzare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sesso]]

+ * [[la|sexus]]

+ * [[fr|sexuel]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Rapporto sessuale'', often simply ''rapporto'', is sexual intercourse.^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) The pronunciation is /ses.suˈa.le/ or, with a glide, /sesˈswa.le/.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}