# pansexual
## English
### Etymology

From pan- +‎ -sexual. First attested in 1926 (with pansexualism attested since 1917), as a descriptor of the psychological theory that all human activity is based on sexuality. Used to describe a sexual orientation since at least the 1970s.

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /pænˈsɛk.ʃu.əl/

### Adjective

pansexual (not comparable)
* Sexually attracted to people regardless of gender.
    Coordinate terms: asexual, bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual
** 1970–1972 (printed in compiled form in 1973), Ramparts, page 25:
    Karen and Carlos are definitely pansexual people who have paired off to have this child, and this seems real and good to them now. When I had been with Karen, she had floated through several gay relationships, […] all my friends had been what I would call pansexual, avoiding the older term bisexual, which is meaningless when you can count more than two sexes.
** 1979, Karla Jay, Allen Young, The Gay Report: Lesbians and Gay Men Speak Out:Obviously many women who answered the survey considered themselves bisexual in the past no longer do. Perceiving oneself as bisexual was often a stage of transition between heterosexuality and homosexuality. But others did consider and still consider themselves bisexual. Here are some stories of bisexual or pansexual women and some comments about [...]
** 1995, Owen McNally, “The Vigor, Venom and Wit of Gore Vidal”, in Hartford Courant‎, archived from the original on 30 June 2013, page E1:As a writer/sexologist, he argues that people are neither homosexual nor heterosexual but pansexual.
** 1999, Steven Drukman, “Cumming Attraction”, in Out‎, page 82:CUMMING: Bisexual, I suppose... No, pansexual. Some bloke in a newspaper called me a "frolicky pansexual sex symbol for the new millennium." I thought that was fabulous.
* Sexually attracted to everyone.
** 2004, John Leland, Hip: The History‎, →ISBN, page 50:To the end he [Walt Whitman] denied that he was homosexual; his writings are pansexual, finding carnal ripeness in the soul, in nature, as well as in men and women.
* Welcoming people of all sexual orientations.
** 1998, Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt, The Ethical Slut‎, →ISBN, page 262:We like to attend pansexual group sex parties, which means that attendees may identify as gay or lesbian or bisexual or hetero or transgendered, but are generally comfortable and happy to play side-by-side with people whose desires may be entirely different than their own.
* (psychology) Pertaining to the psychological theory of pansexualism.

#### Alternative forms

* pan-sexual

#### Coordinate terms

* androsexual
* asexual, ace
* bisexual, bi
* demisexual, demi
* graysexual
* gynesexual
* heterosexual, straight, hetero
* homosexual
** gay
** lesbian
* omnisexual
* pansexual, pan
* polysexual
* sapiosexual

#### Derived terms

* pansexuality
* pansexually

#### Related terms

* pancurious
* panromantic
* pansexualism, pansexualist
* pansexualize, pansexualization

#### Translations
### Noun

pansexual (plural pansexuals)
* Someone who is attracted to all types of people regardless of gender.

#### Usage notes

* Some people prefer this term to bisexual because of its acknowledgement of more than two genders. Some other people dislike this term, either because they feel there are only two genders or they feel bisexual includes more than two genders, or they dislike the polysemy of pansexual. Similar arguments are made about the less common term omnisexual.

#### Translations
### See also

* gender-blind
* pangender

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “pansexual”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* ↑ “pansexual”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* ↑ “pansexual”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ Nancy L. Fischer, Steven Seidman, Introducing the New Sexuality Studies (2016, →ISBN), page 219
* ↑ Laura Erickson-Schroth, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community (2014, →ISBN)
* ↑ Lani Ka’ahumanu, Loraine Hutchins, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out (2015, →ISBN)

## Catalan
### Etymology

From pan- +‎ sexual.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˌpan.sək.suˈal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˌpan.sek.suˈal]

### Adjective

pansexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural pansexuals)
* pansexual

### Noun

pansexual m or f by sense (plural pansexuals)
* pansexual

#### Related terms

* pansexualitat

## Portuguese
### Etymology

From pan- +‎ sexual. Compare English pansexual.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /pɐ̃.sek.suˈaw/ [pɐ̃.sek.sʊˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /pɐ̃.sekˈswaw/ [pɐ̃.sekˈswaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɐ̃.sɨˈkswal/ [pɐ̃.sɨˈkswaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɐ̃.sɨˈkswal/ [pɐ̃.sɨˈkswaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /pɐ̃.sɨˈkswa.li/
* Hyphenation: pan‧se‧xu‧al

### Adjective

pansexual m or f (plural pansexuais)
* pansexual (sexually attracted to people regardless of gender)
* pertaining to all aspects of sexuality

#### Coordinate terms

* assexual
* bissexual
* demissexual
* heterossexual
* homossexual
** gay
** lésbica
* onissexual
* pansexual

#### Derived terms

* pansexualidade

### Noun

pansexual m or f by sense (plural pansexuais)
* pansexual (a pansexual person)

### Further reading

* “pansexual”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
* “pansexual”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
* “pansexual”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
* “pansexual”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English pansexual. Equivalent to pan- +‎ sexual.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌpan.sek.suˈal/

### Adjective

pansexual m or n (feminine singular pansexuală, masculine plural pansexuali, feminine and neuter plural pansexuale)
* pansexual

#### Declension
### Noun

pansexual m (plural pansexuali)
* pansexual

#### Declension
### Related terms

* pansexualitate

## Spanish
### Etymology

From pan- +‎ sexual.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /panseɡˈswal/ [pãn.seɣ̞ˈswal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: pan‧se‧xual

### Adjective

pansexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural pansexuales)
* pansexual

#### Derived terms

* pansexualidad

### Noun

pansexual m or f by sense (plural pansexuales)
* pansexual

### Further reading

* “pansexual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10