hermaphroditism

English

Etymology

From hermaphrodite +‎ -ism.

Noun

hermaphroditism (countable and uncountable, plural hermaphroditisms)

1. (biology) Being able to reproduce as both male and female, either simultaneously (simultaneous hermaphroditism or cosexuality) or sequentially (sequantial hermaphroditism or dichogamy).
2. (dated, now offensive) Historically used to describe intersex people with intermediate sex characteristics or pseudohermaphroditism.

Usage notes

Intersex is now the preferred term for humans.

Synonyms

Sense of reproduction:

• hermaphrodism
• dichogamous
• cosexual

Sense of intersex:

• intersex (noun)
• intersexuality

Related terms

• hermaphrodite
• hermaphroditic
• hermaphroditical
• hermaphroditically
• pseudohermaphroditism

Translations

state of having both male and female sexual organs

• Catalan: hermafroditisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雌雄間性／雌雄间性 (cíxióngjiānxìng), 雌雄同體／雌雄同体 (zh) (cíxióng tóng tǐ)

• Danish: hermafroditisme c, hermafrodisme c, tvekønnethed c
• Dutch: hermafroditisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: dusekseco, hermafroditismo
• French: hermaphrodisme (fr) m
• German: Hermaphroditismus (de) m, Hermaphrodismus m, Zweigeschlechtlichkeit (de) f, Zwittrigkeit (de) f, Zwittertum (de) n
• Japanese: 雌雄同体 (しゆうどうたい, shiyūdōtai)
• Kazakh: қосжыныстылық (qosjynystylyq)
• Korean: 암수한몸 (ko) (amsuhanmom), 자웅동체 (ko) (jaungdongche)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hermafrodittisme m, tvekjønnethet m or f

  Nynorsk: hermafrodittisme m, tvikjønn n

• Portuguese: hermafroditismo m
• Russian: гермафродити́зм (ru) m (germafroditízm)
• Spanish: hermafroditismo (es) m
• Swedish: hermafroditism c, hermafrodism c
• Volapük: härmafrodit

See also

• intersex
• Wikipedia article on Hermaphrodite