English
sex
Sex comes from Middle English sexe, from Old French sexe, from Latin sexus ‘gender; males or females’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexus1‘gender; males or females’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400sexe1‘genitals; gender’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sexe1‘sex, gender’
- Englishearliest quotation 1664sex1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English sex
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1664, Thomas Killigrew, Princess: “Another ha's gon through with the bargain... One that…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsexusWiktionary, English sex‘gender; males or females’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400sexeWiktionary, English sex‘genitals; gender’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sexeWiktionary, English sex‘sex, gender’
- Englishearliest quotation 1664sexWiktionary, English sex. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with sex, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut, cut off, sever’
- saw ← sawe ← saga ← *sagu ← *sagō
- design ← designen ← designer ← designō ← signō
- sign ← signe ← seġn ← signum ← *segnom
- ship ← chip ← sċip ← *skip ← *skipą
- sack ← siccus ← *siskʷos ← *siskus
- seal ← sel ← seel ← sigillum ← signum
- scarlet ← escarlate ← scarlātum
- sawyer
- sax ← seax ← *sahs ← *sahsą
- shingle ← shyngel ← sċindel ← *skindulā ← scindula
- scythe ← sythe ← sīþe ← *sigiþi ← *sigiþiz
- sich ← Січ ← сікти ← сѣчи́ ← сѣчи
116 more relatives in the full family tree
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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.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “sex”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin sexus / sex