hermaphrodite English · revision 839

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /hɝˈmæfɹədaɪt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|hermofrodite]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[bor|la-med|hermofroditus]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995) [[der|la|hermaphrodītus]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Hoad 1986) [[der|grc|ἑρμαφρόδιτος|tr=hermaphróditos]], originally the proper name ''Hermaphroditus'', son of [[Hermes]] and [[Aphrodite]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Hoad 1986) In the myth told by Ovid, the nymph Salmacis loved him so ardently that she prayed to be joined with him, and the two were united in one body combining male and female characteristics.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Hoad 1986)^(Hendrickson 2008) The word was known in Old French in the 13th century, but the Middle English spelling points to borrowing from Medieval Latin.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A human being or animal having both male and female sexual parts (late 14th century in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster; 1398 in the OED; probably about 1408 in Barnhart, with ''hermofrodita'' before 1387).^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English the word was also used figuratively of a person who improperly held two offices.^(Etymonline) By the 1590s it could mean an effeminate man or a masculine woman.^(OED 1989) In the 18th century naturalists applied it to animals such as earthworms and to flowers bearing both stamens and pistils (1727–41).^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) A general figurative sense, a person or thing combining two opposite qualities, appears in 1659,^(OED 1989) and from 1794 a sailing vessel combining two rigs was called a ''hermaphrodite'', especially the ''hermaphrodite brig''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) As an adjective the word dates from about 1600.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1387 – ''hermofrodita''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1398 – a person or animal with characteristics of both sexes.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1607 – adjective.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1659 – figuratively, a combination of opposites.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1727–41 – in zoology and botany.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1794 – a ship combining two kinds of rig.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[organism]], such as an [[earthworm]] or a [[monoclinous]] plant, having both male and female reproductive organs.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person having reproductive organs or sexual characteristics of both sexes.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Something that combines diverse or opposite elements.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having both male and female reproductive organs; [[hermaphroditic]].^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hermaphroditic]]

+ * [[hermaphroditically]]

+ * [[hermaphroditism]]

+ * [[hermaphrodism]]

+ * [[pseudohermaphrodite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Hermes]]

+ * [[Aphrodite]]

+ * [[androgyne]]

+ * [[androgynous]]

+ * [[intersex]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Wiktionary notes that ''[[intersex]]'' is now the preferred term for humans, and that ''hermaphrodite'' applied to intersex people is now considered a slur.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}