hermaphrodite

English

Etymology

From Hermaphroditus, the mythical son of Hermes and Aphrodite who merged bodies with a naiad and thereafter possessed both male and female qualities.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɝˈmæfɹədaɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

hermaphrodite (plural hermaphrodites)

2. (archaic, now offensive) A person possessing ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics. [from late 14th c.]
4. (biology) Cosexual: an organism possessing both types of gonads; a flower possessing both stamens and pistils.

   An earthworm is a hermaphrodite.

6. (biology) Dichogamous: an organism which begins its life as one sex and changes its sex over its life cycle.

   Comb jellies are sequential hermaphrodites.

8. A person or thing possessing two opposing qualities.
10. (nautical) A hermaphrodite brig.
12. A farm wagon convertible to multiple purposes.
13. (World War I military, historical) An armoured fighting vehicle having features of both male tanks and female tanks.

Usage notes

• Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede hermaphrodite with an, others with a.
• Intersex is now the preferred term for humans. The term hermaphrodite when used for intersex people is considered a slur.
• Compare androgyne and genderqueer.

Synonyms

• maphrodite, morphodite, mophrodite (slang)
• androgyne
• gynandromorph
• dichogamous
• cosexual
• intersex (noun)

Derived terms

terms derived from hermaphrodite

• false hermaphrodite
• herm / herm.
• hermaphrodism
• pseudohermaphrodite

Translations

organism having both male and female gonads

• Albanian: deledash (sq)
• Arabic: خُنْثَى f (ḵunṯā)
• Aramaic: אנדרוגינוס m (androginos)
• Belarusian: гермафрады́т m (hjermafradýt)
• Breton: divreizhadezh
• Bulgarian: хермафродит (bg) m (hermafrodit)
• Burmese: ဒွိလိင် (my) (dwi.ling)
• Catalan: hermafrodita (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 陰陽人／阴阳人 (zh) (yīnyángrén), 兩性人／两性人 (zh) (liǎngxìngrén)

• Czech: hermafrodit (cs) m, obojetník (cs) m
• Danish: hermafrodit (da) c
• Dutch: hermafrodiet (nl) m
• Esperanto: hermafrodito, androgino, ambaŭseksulo
• Estonian: hermafrodiit
• Finnish: hermafrodiitti (fi)
• French: hermaphrodite (fr) m or f
• German: Zwitter (de); (formal also) Hermaphrodit (de) m, Hermaphroditin f; (rarely also) Zweigeschlecht n
• Greek: ερμαφρόδιτος (el) m (ermafróditos), ερμαφρόδιτη (el) f (ermafróditi)

  Ancient: ἑρμαφρόδιτος m (hermaphróditos), ἀνδρόγυνος m or f (andrógunos)

• Hebrew: הרמפרודיט (he) (hermafrodit)
• Hindi: हिजड़ा (hi) (hijṛā)
• Icelandic: tvíkynjungur m
• Irish: idirghnéas m, cadar m
• Italian: ermafrodito (it) m
• Japanese: 双成り (ふたなり, futanari), 雌雄同体 (shiyuudoutai)
• Kazakh: қызтеке (qyzteke)
• Khmer: ខ្ទើយ (km) (ktəəy)
• Lao: ກະເທີຍ (lo) (ka thœ̄i)
• Lithuanian: hermafroditas m
• Malay: khunsa
• Navajo: nádleeh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hermafroditt m

  Nynorsk: hermafroditt m, tvitole f, tvitoling m

• Old English: bǣddel, wǣpenwīfestre f, wæpnwifestre
• Old Ruthenian: гермафродитъ (hermafrodit)
• Polish: hermafrodyta (pl) m, obojnak (pl) m
• Portuguese: hermafrodita (pt) m or f, andrógino (pt) m, dígamo (pt) m
• Romanian: hermafrodit (ro) m
• Russian: гермафроди́т (ru) m (germafrodít)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: hermafrodit (sh), dvopolac m, dvopolnik m

• Spanish: hermafrodita (es) m or f
• Swedish: hermafrodit (sv) c
• Tagalog: balakihan
• Thai: แต๋ว (th) (dtɛ̌o)
• Turkish: erdişi (tr), hermafrodit (tr), erselik (tr), hünsa (tr)
• Ukrainian: гермафроди́т m (hermafrodýt)
• Urdu: ہیجڑا (hijṛa)
• Vietnamese: người ái nam ái nữ
• Volapük: (♂♀) härmafroditan, (♂) hihärmafroditan (♀) jihärmafroditan

person or thing possessing two opposing qualities

• Polish: hermafrodyta (pl) m
• Portuguese: ambivalente m or f, ambíguo (pt) m

Adjective

hermaphrodite (not comparable)

1. (archaic, now offensive) Having ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics.
2. (biology) Having both ovaries and testes or both stamens and pistils.
3. Combining two opposing qualities.

Synonyms

• androgynous
• hermaphroditic
• intersex
• ambisexual

Translations

having both male and female gonads

• Arabic: خُنْثَوِيّ (ḵunṯawiyy)
• Bulgarian: хермафродитен (hermafroditen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雌雄同體的／雌雄同体的 (zh) (cíxióng tóngtǐ de)

• Danish: tvekønnet, hermafroditisk
• Dutch: hermafrodiet (nl), hermafrodiete (nl)
• Esperanto: hermafrodita (eo)
• Faroese: tvíkynjaður
• Finnish: hermafrodiitti (fi)
• French: hermaphrodite (fr) m or f, bisexué (fr) m, bisexuée (fr) f
• German: hermaphroditisch (de), zwittrig (de)
• Icelandic: tvítóla, tvítólaður, tvítóli m
• Irish: idirghnéasach m
• Japanese: 半陰陽の (はんいんようの, han'in'yō no), 雌雄同体の (しゆうどうたいの, shiyūdōtai no)
• Malay: hermafrodit (animal, plant), khunsa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hermafrodittisk, tvekjønna, tvekjønnet

  Nynorsk: hermafrodittisk, tvikjønna, tvekjønna, tvitola

• Polish: hermafrodyczny
• Portuguese: hermafrodita (pt) m or f
• Romanian: hermafrodit (ro)
• Russian: гермафроди́тный (ru) (germafrodítnyj)
• Spanish: hermafrodita (es)
• Volapük: (of the condition) härmafroditik, (♂♀, of the person) härmafroditanik, (♂) hihärmafroditanik (♀) jihärmafroditanik

combining two opposing qualities

• Polish: hermafrodyczny
• Portuguese: ambivalente

See also

• berdache, two-spirit (two-spirits were formerly often called hermaphrodites)
• genderqueer

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /ɛʁ.ma.fʁɔ.dit/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

hermaphrodite (plural hermaphrodites)

1. hermaphrodite

Noun

hermaphrodite m or f by sense (plural hermaphrodites)

1. hermaphrodite

Further reading

• “hermaphrodite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.