English
sex
Sex comes from Middle English sexe, from Old French sexe, from Latin sexus ‘gender; males or females’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexus‘gender; males or females’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400sexe‘genitals; gender’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sexe‘sex, gender’
- Englishearliest quotation 1664sex
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexus‘gender; males or females’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400sexe‘genitals; gender’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sexe‘sex, gender’
- Englishearliest quotation 1664sex
Earliest quotation: 1664, Thomas Killigrew, Princess: “Another ha's gon through with the bargain... One that…”
The story
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. Usage for sexual intercourse first attested in 1899 (in the writings of H.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut, cut off, sever’
saw, design, sign, ship, sack, seal, scarlet, sawyer, sax, shingle, scythe, sich, sigil, desiccation, sain, desiccant, sedge, 59 more
through Proto-Italic *sekaō ‘to cut’
through Latin secō ‘to cut, cut off’
risk, section, segment, insect, sickle, dissect, brassica, seg, 19 more
through Latin secāre
through Latin sexus ‘gender’
Today it means
noun 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.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin sexus / sex