late 14c., “males or females considered collectively,” from Latin sexus “a sex, state of being either male or female, gender,” a word of uncertain origin. “Commonly taken with seco as division or ‘half’ of the race” [Tucker], which would connect it to secare “to divide or cut” (see section (n.)).
Secus seems the more original formation, but it is strange that the older texts only know sexus. The modern meaning of sectiō ‘division’ suggests that sec/xus might derive from secāre ‘to sever’, but the morphology remains unclear: does sexus go back to an s-present *sek-s- ‘to cut up’, or was it derived from a form *sek-s- of the putative s-stem underlying secus? [Michiel de Vaan, “Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages,” Leiden, 2008]
The meaning “quality or character of being either male or female” with reference to animals is recorded by 1520s; by 19c. this meant especially “the anatomical distinction between male and female as evidenced by physical characteristics of their genital organs and the part taken by each in reproduction.” Extended by 1560s to characteristics or structures in plants which correspond to sex in animals.
It is curious that the Anglo-Saxon language seems to have had no abstract term for sex, which was expressed only severally as manhood or womanhood. [Thomas Wright, note to “Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies,” 1884]
Also especially the sex “the female sex, womankind” (1580s). The meaning “sexual intercourse” (have sex) is by 1906; the meaning “genitalia” is suggested by 1933 (“Fumes of Formation”) and probably is older. Sex symbol by 1871 in anthropology; the first person to whom the term was applied seems to have been Marilyn Monroe (1959). Sex-kitten is attested by 1954 (Brigitte Bardot). Sex object is by 1901, originally in psychology; sex appeal is attested by 1904.
For the raw sex appeal of the burlesque “shows” there is no defense, either. These “shows” should be under official supervision, at the least, and boys beneath the age of eighteen forbidden, perhaps, to attend their performance, just as we forbid the sale of liquors to minors. [Walter Prichard Eaton, “At the New Theatre and Others: The American Stage, Its Problems and Performances,” Boston, 1910]
Sex-life is attested by 1887. Sex-drive is by 1916 (sex-impulse by 1911). Sex-education is by 1894; sex therapist is by 1969, in early use often in reference to Masters and Johnson. Sex-crime is by 1907; sex-maniac by 1895; sex-fiend by 1931 (in a New York Daily News headline).
1884, “to determine the sex of (a specimen), mark or label as male or female,” from sex (n.); to sex (something) up “increase the sex appeal of” is recorded from 1942. Related: Sexed; sexing.
by 1949, with reference to parents, “of the same sex as the child;” by 1981 as “involving partners of the same sex;” from same + sex (n.).
c. 1300, “kind, sort, class, a class or kind of persons or things sharing certain traits,” from Old French gendre, genre “kind, species; character; gender” (12c., Modern French genre), from stem of Latin genus (genitive generis) “race, stock, family; kind, rank, order; species,” also “(male or female) sex,” from PIE root *gene- “give birth, beget,” with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.
The unetymological -d- is a phonetic accretion in Old French (see D). Also used in Latin to translate Aristotle’s Greek grammatical term genos. The grammatical sense is attested in English from late 14c. Jespersen (“Philosophy of Grammar,” 1924) defines grammatical gender by reference to the Indo-European distinction of masculine, feminine, neuter, “whether the division be based on the natural division into two sexes, or on that between animate and inanimate, or on something else.”
The “male-or-female sex” sense of the word is attested in English from early 15c. As sex (n.) took on erotic qualities in 20c., gender came to be the usual English word for “sex of a human being,” in which use it was at first regarded as colloquial or humorous. Later often in feminist writing with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense first attested 1963. Gender-bender is from 1977, popularized from 1980, with reference to pop star David Bowie.
“sex therapist,” 1924, from a jocular merger of sex (n.) + expert.
“scientific study of sex and sexual relations,” 1902, from sex (n.) + -ology. Related: Sexologist.
“sexually indistinguishable or neutral,” 1968, in reference to fashion styles and appearance, from uni- + sex (n.).
mid-14c., “belonging to the male grammatical gender;” late 14c., “of men, of male sex,” from Old French masculin “of the male sex” (12c.), from Latin masculinus “male, of masculine gender,” from masculus “male, masculine; worthy of a man,” diminutive of mas (genitive maris) “male person, male,” a word of unknown origin. The diminutive form might be by pairing association with femininus (see feminine). Meaning “having the appropriate qualities of the male sex, physically or mentally: Manly, virile, powerful” is attested by 1620s. As a noun, “masculine gender,” from c. 1500.
1789, “action or fact of being sexed or having distinctions between the sexes;” see sexual + -ity. Meaning “capability of sexual feelings” is from 1879. Meaning “(one’s) sexual identity” is by 1980.
According to a strict biological definition sexuality is the characteristic of the male and female reproductive elements (genoblasts), and sex of the individuals in which the reproductive elements arise. A man has sex, a spermatozoon sexuality. [Albert H. Buck, M.D., ed., “Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences,” 1894]
late 14c., “male human being; male fish or land animal; one of the sex that begets young,” from Old French masle (adj.) “masculine, male, adult,” also used as a noun (12c., Modern French mâle), from Latin masculus “masculine, male, worthy of a man” (source also of Provençal mascle, Spanish macho, Italian maschio), diminutive of mas (genitive maris) “male person or animal, male.”
Male, matching female, applies to the whole sex among human beings and gender among animals, to the apparel of that sex, and, by figure, to certain things, as plants, rimes, cesuras, screws, joints. Masculine, matching feminine, applies to men and their attributes and to the first grammatical gender; a woman may wear male apparel and have a masculine walk, voice, manner, temperament. [Century Dictionary, 1895]
Source: O
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