# sex

Pronunciation: say "SEKS" /sɛks/

## Noun

1. Physical sexual activity, especially sexual intercourse.
   - Simple: Physical activity between people that involves their private parts, often for pleasure or to have babies.
   - _The novel deals frankly with love, sex, and betrayal._
   - _Doctors recommend using protection during sex._
2. Either of the main categories, usually male and female, into which people and other sexually reproducing organisms are divided by their role in reproduction; also, the fact of belonging to one.
   - Simple: Whether a person, animal, or plant is male or female, based on the part it plays in making young.
   - _The sex of a reptile's offspring can depend on the temperature of the nest._
   - _In many parrots the sexes look so alike that breeders use DNA tests to tell them apart._
3. The members of one sex considered together as a group; in old use, women collectively.
   - Simple: All the people who are male, or all who are female, thought of as one group.
   - _He had a reputation for being charming with the opposite sex._
   - _She has always confided more easily in her own sex than in men._
5. A person's genitals, such as a penis, vulva, or vagina. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A person's private parts, such as a penis or vagina.
7. An additional category, especially of humans, defined by sexuality or by gender roles rather than by male and female.
   - Simple: A group other than male and female, often based on gender roles or on who people are attracted to.
   - _Certain communities formally recognize a third sex with its own social role._
   - _Anthropologists have documented additional sexes in many cultures._

## Verb

4. To have sexual activity with someone. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: To have sex with another person.
   - _He kept texting her at two in the morning, saying he wanted to come over and sex her._
   - _He boasted about sexing half the cast._
6. To determine whether an animal is male or female.
   - Simple: To find out whether an animal is male or female.
   - _Experienced handlers can sex day-old chicks with remarkable speed._
   - _The breeder sexed the kittens before listing them for sale._

## Origin

The word comes through Middle English sexe ("gender") and Old French sexe ("genitals; gender") from Latin sexus ("gender; males or females; genitals"). This traces back to Proto-Indo-European *sek- ("to cut, sever"), giving a sense of "division" into male and female. Its use for sexual intercourse was first attested in 1899 in the writings of H. G. Wells.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sex (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).