English
het
Het comes from Latin sexuālis ‘sexual’, and goes back to sexus ‘division’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexus‘division’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexuālis‘sexual’
- English1500–presentheterosexual
- Englishearliest quotation 2005het
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexus‘division’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexuālis‘sexual’
- English1500–presentheterosexual
- Englishearliest quotation 2005het
Earliest quotation: 2005, Rhiannon Bury, Cyberspaces of Their Own: Female Fandoms Online: “Mary Ellen Curtin presented a paper at the 2002…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut, cut off, sever’
saw, design, sign, ship, seal, sack, sawyer, scarlet, sax, shingle, sich, scythe, sedge, sigil, desiccation, sain, desiccant, 59 more
through Proto-Italic *sekaō ‘to cut’
through Latin secō ‘to cut, cut off’
risk, section, segment, insect, sickle, dissect, seg, brassica, 19 more
through Latin sexus ‘division’
through Latin sexuālis ‘sexual’
Today it means
noun A heterosexual person.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin sexus / het