bisexual

Definition

Sexually attracted to both opposite-gendered and same-gendered individuals. (Compare pansexual.)

Etymology

From bi- + -sexual, via the French bisexuel (bi-, sexuel). Attested since 1792 as a synonym in botany for "hermaphroditic" ("having male and female parts"). First used of sexuality in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's 1886 Psychopathia Sexualis (in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof, due to the theory that people were naturally attracted to the opposite sex and so the brain or mind of a person attracted to "both" sexes (or to the same sex) must be partly of another sex and thus "hermaphroditic".

Example Sentences

• "Skirt Club caters to bisexual or bicurious women. No men are allowed, but women with all levels of experience in same-sex sexuality, from bicurious to fully lesbian, are welcomed."
• "Midrash and Zohar present Adam as hermaphroditic or bisexual."
• "To say that Loki is bisexual means that he readily alternates between the male and female sexes, becoming female at will or as needed."

Related Words