intersex
Syllables: in·ter·sexUK/ˈɪn.tə.sɛks//ˈɪn.təɹ.sɛks/
intersex adjective: of an individual, having any of a variety of inherent conditions (in a species with distinct sexes) in which one's sex characteristics differ from those of a typical male and female; for example, having sex characteristics relating to both male and female sexes.
Adjective
intersex (not comparable)
- Of an individual, having any of a variety of inherent conditions (in a species with distinct sexes) in which one's sex characteristics differ from those of a typical male and female; for example, having sex characteristics relating to both male and female sexes.
- His confidentiality was broken, and soon the entire staff and residential population were aware that Jim was intersex. […] we faced the fact that most programs were gender segregated and would not be a safe place for Jim to be known as intersex.2006, Dean Spade, “Compliance Is Gendered: Struggling for Gender Self-Determination in a Hostile Economy”, in Paisley Currah et al., editors, Transgender Rights, University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN...
- When I had learned that I was intersex, I brought this issue to my mother.2010, Sean Saifa Wall, “I am the ‘I’”, in Kate Bornstein, S. Bear Bergman, editors, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, Seal Press, →ISBN, page 109
Noun
intersex (countable and uncountable, plural intersexes)
- The condition of being intersex; intersexuality.
- A Canadian believes that he has solved the diagnostic problem in human intersex. All human cells, says Dr. Murray L. Barr of the University of Western Ontario, contain something called sex chromatin.1953 February 23, Time
- A much more common condition caused by early exposure of fish larvae to oestrogenic substances is intersex, which in males usually takes the form of ovotestis.2003, Andrew J Lawrence et al., Effects of Pollution on Fish, page 204
- An individual with any of these conditions.
- Goldschmidt and others who have thought of the homosexual individual as an intersex have relied upon incidence figures which were pure guesses and which, as the data in the present chapter will show, bear little relation to the fact....1948, Alfred Kinsey with Wardell Baxter Pomeroy and Clyde Eugene Martin, Sexual behavior in the human male, page 659
- Conversely, a fertilized egg with one X-chromosome would develop not into a male but into an intersex […]1955, Curt Stern, Principles of Human Genetics, page 374
- A person who can get pregnant and also impregnate someone else.
Verb
intersex (third-person singular simple present intersexes, present participle intersexing, simple past and past participle intersexed)
- To make intersex.
- The point is significant in light of current political issues surrounding real intersexed individuals. [...] It is clearly the case that physical intersexing and psychological androgyny do not conform to sex and gender norms in society. [...]2013, Patrick Colm Hogan, Ulysses and the Poetics of Cognition, →ISBN, page 176
- Synonyms:
- intersexualize
intersex meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
intersex in Tamil
- ஊடுபால், இடைப்பால்
intersex in Urdu
- intersex
- خواجہ سرا xvāja sarā
intersex in Bengali
- having an intersex condition
- আন্তঃলিঙ্গ antoḥliṅgo
intersex in Malayalam
- മധ്യലിംഗി
More languagesFewer languages
- intersex in Kannada
- ಹಿಜಡ hijaḍa
- intersex in Nepali
- अन्तरलिङ्गी antaraliṅgī
- intersex in Arabic
- ثُنَائِيّ الْجِنْس ṯunāʔiyy al-jins
- intersex in Indonesian
- interseks
Examples of intersex in a sentence
- Pseudo-hermaphrodites or other intersexes are not to be confused with transsexualists; transvestites may be transsexualists, but not necessarily.1970, Sexology, volume 37, page 26:
- Genital surgery on intersexes has been performed for about a century2003, Peggy Tine Cohen-Kettenis with Friedemann Pfäfflin, Transgenderism and intersexuality in childhood and adolescence, page 155:
- An intersex, then, is an animal that shows both male and female characteristics.2009, Mary C Smith, David Sherman, Goat Medicine, page 609:
- Kubick also did not specifically include intersex people in the class of those seeking X gender markers, writing in her opinion that because the only Orr v.2025 June 18, Samantha Riedel, “In Trans Legal Victory, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Denying Passport Gender Changes”, in Them:
Synonyms of intersex
- hermaphroditic
- hermaphrodite
- pseudohermaphroditic
- pseudohermaphrodite
- indeterminate
- X
- intersexual
- intersexed
- intersexualize
Antonyms
Forms of intersex
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | intersexes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | intersexes |
| present participle | intersexing |
| past participle | intersexed |
| past | intersexed |
Origin of intersex
Borrowed from German Intersexe. By surface analysis, inter- + sex. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Needs more details, especially the German etymology.”) Doublet of intersect.
Words formed from intersex
Questions about intersex
- What does intersex mean?
- Intersex means of an individual, having any of a variety of inherent conditions (in a species with distinct sexes) in which one's sex characteristics differ from those of a typical male and female; for example, having sex characteristics relating to both male and female sexes.
- What is intersex in Tamil?
- Intersex in Tamil is ஊடுபால், இடைப்பால். See Intersex meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use intersex in a sentence?
- Pseudo-hermaphrodites or other intersexes are not to be confused with transsexualists; transvestites may be transsexualists, but not necessarily.
- What part of speech is intersex?
- Intersex can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce intersex?
- Intersex is pronounced /ˈɪn.tə.sɛks/ (UK).
Words near intersex in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intersex (page history and authors); intersex (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); خواجہ سرا (Urdu) (page history and authors); intersex (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಹಿಜಡ (Kannada) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-intersex.wav.
Cite this entry: “intersex.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intersex. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.