sapiosexual

English

Etymology

From Latin sapiens + -sexual. Coined by Darren Stalder in 1998 to describe his own sexuality.

Adjective

sapiosexual (comparative more sapiosexual, superlative most sapiosexual)

1. Sexually attracted to intellectual or mental qualities over appearance.
   • 2013 June 20, DoubleX Staff, “Are Women Turned on by Pictures of Naked Men? Kevin Costner.”, in Slate‎^[1]:

     I am what is known as a sapiosexual—defined by Urban Dictionary as one who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature.

   • 2017 June 2, Anna North, “The Hottest Body Part? For a Sapiosexual, It’s the Brain”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     For Mr. Okeke-Diagne, being sapiosexual means intellectual conversation is a key part of dating and sex.

   • 2021 October 18, Lucy Foulkes, “The big idea: Is it your personality, or a disorder?”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Sexually attracted to intelligent people? You're sapiosexual.

Derived terms

• sapiosexuality

 

Translations

sexually attracted to intelligence

• Danish: sapioseksuel
• Dutch: sapioseksueel (nl)
• Finnish: sapioseksuaalinen
• French: sapiosexuel (fr)
• German: sapiosexuell
• Hungarian: szapioszexuális
• Spanish: sapiosexual (es)

Noun

sapiosexual (plural sapiosexuals)

1. A person who is sapiosexual.
   • 2005 October 20, CatDeville [username], “Re: Struggling with the details”, in alt.polyamory‎^[4] (Usenet):

     You see, for a true geek there's often little difference, because when you engage our brains, which are connected to our genitals, it often turns on our lust response (we're quite often sapiosexuals - people who lust after intellect first), but it's the *brain* you aim for, the intellect, to turn us on, not our genitals.

   • 2012 April 24, Cara C. MacInnis, Gordon Hodson, “Intergroup bias toward 'Group X': Evidence of prejudice, dehumanization, avoidance, and discrimination against asexuals”, in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations:

     In Study 2 we tapped attitudes toward a largely unknown sexual orientation group, sapiosexuals (those sexually attracted to the human mind).
     […]
     Participants indicated their familiarity with heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, and sapiosexuals […]

   • 2012 May, Carolina Montejo, “Sapiosexuality: The intelligent foreplay”, in Vangardist, page 126:

     So, what attracts you? What turns you on? If you decided on abstract thought, clever humour and insight. You're a sapiosexual.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:sapiosexual.

Related terms

• sapiophile

Translations

sapiosexual person

• Danish: sapioseksuel c
• Dutch: sapioseksueel (nl)
• Finnish: sapioseksuaali
• French: sapiosexuel (fr) m
• German: Sapiosexueller m, Sapiosexuelle f
• Turkish: sapyoseksüel