sex
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sek-der.
Proto-Indo-European *séks-u-sder.
Proto-Italic *seksus
Latin sexusder.
Old French sexeder.
Middle English sexe
English sex
From Middle English sexe (“sex [distinction between male and female] and gender”), from Old French sexe (“genitals; gender”), from Latin sexus (“gender; gender traits; males or females; genitals”), from Proto-Italic *seksus, from Proto-Indo-European *séksus, from *sek- (“to cut, cut off, sever”), thus meaning "section, division" (into male and female).
Usage for women influenced by Middle French le sexe (“women”) (attested in 1580). Usage for third and additional sexes calqued from French troisième sexe, referring to masculine women in 1817 and homosexuals in 1847. First used by Lord Byron and others in English in reference to Catholic clergy. Usage for sexual intercourse first attested in 1899 (in the writings of H. G. Wells).
Inflected forms:
form: sexes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: sexe
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: s*x
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: sexes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: sexing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: sexed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: sexed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: sexe
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
form: s*x
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A category into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their species; the system of such categories, which can differ by organism or by taxonomic branch.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: The effect of the medication is dependent upon age, sex, and other factors.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
I would never have guessed […] that slime molds can have thirteen sexes.
The State Department and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expressly directed under the injunction to “to process and issue passports [...] consistent with the State Department’s policy as of January 19, 2025,” and to allow passport applicants to self-declare their gender even if that information is “different from the sex assigned to those individuals under the [Trump] Passport Policy.”
gloss: Another category, especially of humans and especially based on sexuality or gender roles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Still there are some loop-holes out of which a man may creep, and dare to think and act for himself; but for a woman it is an herculean task, because she has difficulties peculiar to her sex to overcome, which require almost super-human powers.
"But now another sex, in arms, is brought, / And, realms to guard, are eunuchs able thought!"
A black old neutral personage / Of the third sex stept up.
I have encountered officers who believe a woman got a better assignment or somehow "got over" because of her sex.
gloss: The members of such a category, taken collectively.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: It was a weakness / In me, but incident to all our sex.
The sensibility of the female sex appears […] to be greater than that of the male.
gloss: The distinction and relation between these categories, especially in humans; gender.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: A lot of women now like men to pay for them on dates... We've dealt with the outdated view of sex underpinning this.
gloss: Women; the human female gender and those who belong to it.
pos: noun
tags: literary
obsolete
uncountable
with-definite-article
examples: The sex of Venice are undoubtedly of a distinguished beauty.
I was not, however, better than my neighbors; the Sex had its charms for me as it had for others; But there always remained a sting, that time only wore away.
Even the reptile temperament of Noel Vanstone warmed under the influence of the sex: he had an undeniably appreciative eye for a handsome woman, and Magdalen's grace and beauty were not thrown away on him.
gloss: Sexual activity, usually sexual intercourse unless preceded by a modifier.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: We marry in fear and trembling, sex for a home is the woman's traffic, and the man comes to his heart's desire when his heart's desire is dead.
If you want to have sex, you've got to trust / At the core of your heart, the other creature.
1934, translation of the Qur'an (23:5) by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
(The believers ... those ... ) who abstain from sex
Why wasn't Bond ‘more tender’ in his love-making? Why did he just ‘have sex’ and disappear?
It wouldn't work with you... Sex, I mean. You're... easy to be with. You're... you're not dangerous. You're my best friend, John. I couldn't have it on with my best friend, John. It would be embarrassing. Sorry. Honest.
gloss: Genitalia: a penis or vagina/vulva.
pos: noun
tags: countable
euphemistic
slang
examples: Another ha's gon through with the bargain... One that will find the way to her Sex, before you'le come to kissing her hand.
And the black cypresses strained upwards like the sex of a hanged man.
She touched his sex with her hand.
And he put in a fake sex (penis) because he wanted to make the scene more real, more rude.
gloss: To determine the sex of (an animal).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: If we sex the cattle, which is the only way to get at their value, we shall have... 400 cows, 200 yearling heifers.
If, in fact, in L. funebris there is no sex marker on the song elements themselves, then a young bird must be able to sex its tutor. The same is true if the individuals were predisposed to produce the total vocabulary of any population, or of both sexes in their own population, and then under experience had to suppress a sex-specific subset of that repertoire [7]. It seems unrealistic to assume the reverse, that a parent bird can sex by some hidden cues newly hatched sexually monomorphic offspring and direct its own vocabulary to consexual young only.
The ability to sex birds invasively through laparoscopy initially solved that problem, but now it is even easier and less stressful on the birds through testing the DNA of their feathers or blood.
Semen usually is sexed at 90% accuracy, and the sexes of calves at birth almost always are in that statistical range if averaged over […]
gloss: To have sex with.
pos: verb
tags: US
colloquial
transitive
examples: As good as Muddah had handled me in bed, sexing her hadn't done a damn thing to take my mind off my cousin Smoove.
He shows some glimpses, but most of the released singles are about flossing, partying, and sexing women.
Sex with Ivory had gotten better than sexing his wife. Herschel laughed with Ivory, cried with Ivory. They dreamt aloud together. Unlike Nikki, Ivory believed in him. Every man needed a woman who believed in him.
"Do you ever think about how you're betraying your client while you're sexing his wife?"
Wosick-Correa, K. R., 81 Joseph, L. J. Sexy ladies sexing ladies: Women as consumers in strip clubs. Journal of Sex Research, 45, 3 (July 2008), 201-216.
His body shook uncontrollably as he imagined another man sexing his wife.
The last thing a jealous husband wants to think about is another man sexing his wife when he's dead and gone.
Sexing his wife anally would remind him of having sex with Baron.
The neighbor guy, I just came to understand, is sexing the lady across the street from him. He's got a girlfriend. She is married. While I don't think that is particularly cool, I also don't think it is any of my business either.
gloss: To have sex.
pos: verb
tags: US
colloquial
intransitive
examples: Our baby is eighteen months old now, and cries when we sex
Synonyms: get it on
have sex
Related words: sexual
sexualiation
sexualise
sexuality
sexualization
sexualize
sexually
female
gender
gendersex
intersexed
male
missexed
missexing
sex up
third sex
unsex
Derived words: altersex
ambisextrous
anal sex
antisex
battle of the sexes
better than sex
biological sex
bio-sex
biosex
birth sex
boatsex
bum sex
butt sex
casual sex
chemsex
child sex abuse
child sex tourism
compusex
cross-sex
cross sex
cybersex
desex
disorder of sex development
doublesex
dry sex
ecosex
electrosex
endosex
eye sex
eye-sex
fairer sex
fair sex
foresex
gendersex
gentler sex
gentle sex
group sex
hate sex
hate-sex
have sex
heterosex
imposex
insta-sex
intercrural sex
intersex
intersexness
intrasex
leathersex
legal sex
make-up sex
manual sex
midsex
mixed-sex
monosex
multisex
netsex
nonpenetrative sex
nonsex
opposite sex
oral sex
other-sex
perisex
phone sex
phone-sex
postsex
presex
pro-sex
protected sex
pure sex
purple shirt of sex
rectal sex
safer sex
safe sex
same-sex
same sex
same-sex marriage
secondary sex characteristic
self-sexing
sexable
sex abuse
sex-abusing
sex act
sex activity
sex addict
sex addiction
sex affair
sexaholic
sexaholism
sex aid
sexalicious
sex-alive
sex and shopping
sex-anger
sex-angry
sex antagonism
sex appeal
sex-appeal
sex-appealing
sex assignment
sexathon
sex attack
sex attractant
sex awareness
sex behavior
sex behaviour
sex-blind
sexboat
sex bolt
sex bomb
sexbot
sex boycott
sex bracelet
sex call
sexcapade
sexcation
sex cell
sexcellent
sexcess
sexcessory
sex change
sex character
sex characteristic
sex chromatin
sex-chromosomal
sex chromosome
sex circuit
sexcite
sex clinic
sex club
sex comb
sex comedy
sex complex
sex compulsion
sex conflict
sex-conscious
sex consciousness
sex contrast
sex cord
sex correlation
sex craving
sex-crazed
sex crime
sex criminal
sex cult
sex determinant
sex determination
sex determiner
sex-determining
sex difference
sex-discriminating
sex discrimination
sex-discriminatory
sex disqualification
sex distinction
sex distribution
sex divergence
sex doll
sexdom
sex drive
sexdroid
sex drug
sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll
sex dungeon
sex economy
sex ed
sex education
sex educator
sex-emancipated
sex emotion
sex equality
sexer
sexercise
sex excitement
sex experience
sex exploitation
sex feeling
sexfest
sex festival
sex fiend
sexfight
sex film
sex-flow
sex flush
sex-free
sexful
sex function
sex game
Sexgate
sex gene
sex gland
sex god
sex goddess
sex guru
sex hair
sex-hate
sex-hatred
sexhaustion
sex-haver
sex heredity
sexhibition
sexhibitionist
sexhood
sex hormone
sex hormone-binding globulin
sex hormone binding globulin
sex-hormone-binding globulin
sex-hunger
sex-hungry
sex hygiene
sexify
sexile
sex impulse
sex in
sex industry
sex-inertia
sex-influenced
sex instinct
sex instruction
sex interest
sex intergrade
sexism
sexist
sex joke
sex killer
sex-killing
sex kitten
sex-kittenish
sex laborer
sex labourer
sexless
sex, lies, and videotape
sex life
sexlike
sex-limited
sex line
sexlinked
sex-linked
sex-longing
sexlore
sex love
sexly
sex-machine
sex machine
sex-mad
sex magazine
sex man
sex mania
sex maniac
sex manifestation
sex manual
sexmobile
sexmonger
sex morality
sex mosaic
sex movie
sex-mystery
sex-negative
sex negativity
sex-negativity
sex-neutral
sex novel
sex number
sexo
sex object
sex-obsessed
sex obsession
sex offence
sex offender
sex offense
sexologist
sexology
sex on a stick
sex on legs
sex-on-premises venue
sex on the beach
Sex on the Beach
sexophobe
sexophobia
sexophobic
sexorcism
sex organ
sex orgy
sex pact
sex pal
sex partner
sex party
sexpat
sexpect
sexpectation
sexpedition
sexperience
sexperiment
sexperimental
sexperimentation
sexpert
sexpertise
sex pest
sexphobia
sexphobic
sex pillow
sexpionage
sexpiration date
sex play
sexpletive
sexplicit
sexploit
sexploitation
sexploiter
sexploration
sexplore
sexplorer
sex plus
sex-plus
sexpo
sexposé
sexposition
sex position
sex-positive
sex positivity
sex-positivity
sexpot
sex power
sexpreading
sexpresso
sex pride
sex privilege
sex problem
sex question
sex ratio
sex reassignment
sex reassignment surgery
sex-related
sex relation
sex relationship
sex repression
sex reveal
sex reversal
sex-reversed
sex-reversing
sex-ridden
sex ring
sex role
sexsational
sex scandal
sex scene
sex-segregated
sex selection
sex-selective
sex sells
sexship
sex shop
sex show
sex slave
sex slavery
sex-smelling
sex-specific
sex-specificity
sex starvation
sex-starved
sex stereotype
sex stereotyping
sex steroid
sex story
sex strike
sex surfer
sexsurfing
sex surrogate
sex swing
sex symbol
sextacular
sex talk
sex tape
sextastic
sexterity
sex-text
sex-texting
sex therapist
sex therapy
sex thrill
sexting
sex tool
sextopia
sextort
sextortion
sex tour
sex tourism
sex tourist
sex toy
sextra
sextracurricular
sex trade
sex-traffic
sex trafficking
sex-trafficking
sex-transforming
sextravaganza
sextremism
sextremist
sex-typed
sex-typing
sex union
sex urge
Sexville
sex war
sex warfare
sexway
sexwear
sexwise
sex work
sex worker
sex working
sexworthy
sexx0r
sexy
single-sex
softer sex
solo sex
sterner sex
stern sex
succsex
succsexful
supersex
survival sex
tantric sex
technosex
telephone sex
third sex
tinysex
transsex
unisex
unprotected sex
unsafe sex
unsex
unsexlike
urethral sex
vaginal sex
vent sex
viral sex
virtual sex
weaker sex
whimsical sex
zipper sex
missex
resex
sex up
Translations: