sex
pronunciation
How to pronounce sex in British English:
UK [seks]
How to pronounce sex in American English:
US [seks]
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- Noun:
- activities associated with sexual intercourse
- either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided
- all of the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses
- the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles
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- Verb:
- stimulate sexually
- tell the sex (of young chickens)
Word Origin
- sex
- sex: [14] Sex comes via Old French sexe from Latin sexus. This has traditionally been explained as a relative of Latin secāre ‘cut’ (source of English section, sector, etc), as if it denoted etymologically that ‘section’ of the population which is male or female, but that view is no longer generally held. The use of sex for ‘sexual intercourse’ (first recorded in the works of D H Lawrence) and the derivative sexy are both 20th-century developments.
- sex (n.)
- late 14c., "males or females collectively," from Latin sexus "a sex, state of being either male or female, gender," of uncertain origin. "Commonly taken with seco as division or 'half' of the race" [Tucker], which would connect it to secare "to divide or cut" (see section (n.)). Meaning "quality of being male or female" first recorded 1520s. Meaning "sexual intercourse" first attested 1929 (in writings of D.H. Lawrence); meaning "genitalia" is attested from 1938. Sex appeal attested by 1904. For the raw sex appeal of the burlesque "shows" there is no defense, either. These "shows" should be under official supervision, at the least, and boys beneath the age of eighteen forbidden, perhaps, to attend their performance, just as we forbid the sale of liquors to minors. [Walter Prichard Eaton, "At the New Theatre and Others: The American Stage, Its Problems and Performances," Boston, 1910] Sex drive is from 1918; sex object is 1901; sex symbol is 1871 in anthropology; the first person to whom the term was applied seems to have been Marilyn Monroe (1959). Sex therapist is from 1974.
- sex (v.)
- 1884, "to determine the sex of," from sex (n.); to sex (something) up "increase the sex appeal of" is recorded from 1942. Related: Sexed; sexing.
Example
- 1. Last night sex ran off again .
- 2. Sex selection is overwhelmingly associated with china and india .
- 3. Do you practice safe sex in your sexual revolution ?
- 4. The sex trade transformed georgian london .
- 5. A skewed sex ratio may instead be making the lot of women worse .