pansexual

See also: pan-sexual

English

Symbol: a combination of ⚦ and the letter 'P' for pan-.

Etymology

From pan- +‎ -sexual. First attested in 1926 (with pansexualism attested since 1917), as a descriptor of the psychological theory that all human activity is based on sexuality. Used to describe a sexual orientation since at least the 1970s.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pænˈsɛk.ʃu.əl/

Adjective

pansexual (not comparable)

1. Sexually attracted to people regardless of gender.

   Coordinate terms: asexual, bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual

   • 1970–1972 (printed in compiled form in 1973), Ramparts, page 25:

     Karen and Carlos are definitely pansexual people who have paired off to have this child, and this seems real and good to them now. When I had been with Karen, she had floated through several gay relationships, […] all my friends had been what I would call pansexual, avoiding the older term bisexual, which is meaningless when you can count more than two sexes.

   • 1979, Karla Jay, Allen Young, The Gay Report: Lesbians and Gay Men Speak Out:

     Obviously many women who answered the survey considered themselves bisexual in the past no longer do. Perceiving oneself as bisexual was often a stage of transition between heterosexuality and homosexuality. But others did consider and still consider themselves bisexual. Here are some stories of bisexual or pansexual women and some comments about [...]

   • 1995, Owen McNally, “The Vigor, Venom and Wit of Gore Vidal”, in Hartford Courant‎^[1], page E1:

     As a writer/sexologist, he argues that people are neither homosexual nor heterosexual but pansexual.

   • 1999, Steven Drukman, “Cumming Attraction”, in Out‎^[2], page 82:

     CUMMING: Bisexual, I suppose... No, pansexual. Some bloke in a newspaper called me a "frolicky pansexual sex symbol for the new millennium." I thought that was fabulous.

2. Sexually attracted to everyone.
   • 2004, John Leland, Hip: The History‎^[3], →ISBN, page 50:

     To the end he [Walt Whitman] denied that he was homosexual; his writings are pansexual, finding carnal ripeness in the soul, in nature, as well as in men and women.

3. Welcoming people of all sexual orientations.
   • 1998, Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt, The Ethical Slut‎^[4], →ISBN, page 262:

     We like to attend pansexual group sex parties, which means that attendees may identify as gay or lesbian or bisexual or hetero or transgendered, but are generally comfortable and happy to play side-by-side with people whose desires may be entirely different than their own.

4. (psychology) Pertaining to the psychological theory of pansexualism.

Alternative forms

• pan-sexual

Derived terms

• pansexuality
• pansexually

 

Related terms

• pancurious
• panromantic
• pansexualism, pansexualist
• pansexualize, pansexualization

 

Noun

pansexual (plural pansexuals)

1. Someone who is attracted to all types of people regardless of gender.

Usage notes

• Some people prefer this term to bisexual because of its acknowledgement of more than two genders. Some other people dislike this term, either because they feel there are only two genders or they feel bisexual includes more than two genders, or they dislike the polysemy of pansexual. Similar arguments are made about the less common term omnisexual.

Translations

someone who is attracted to all genders

• Bengali: সর্বকামী (śorbokami)
• Esperanto: ĉiuseksema, ajnseksema
• French: pansexuel (fr)
• German: pansexuell (de), pan (de)
• Hungarian: pánszexuális
• Irish: ilghnéasach m
• Kazakh: пансексуалды (panseksualdy)
• Norwegian: panseksuell
• Polish: panseksualny (pl)
• Spanish: pansexual (es) m or f by sense
• Swedish: pansexuell (sv)

See also

• (sexual orientations) sexual orientation; asexual (-ity, ace), bisexual (-ity, bi), demisexual (-ity, demi), graysexual (-ity), heterosexual (-ity, straight), homosexual (-ity, gay, lesbian), omnisexual (-ity), pansexual (-ity, pan), plurisexual (-ity), polysexual (-ity), robosexual (-ity), sapiosexual (-ity), androsexual (-ity), gynesexual (-ity), vegansexual (-ity) ^{(Category: en:Sexual orientations)}
• gender-blind
• pangender

Catalan

Etymology

From pan- +‎ sexual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˌpan.sək.suˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˌpan.sek.suˈal]

Adjective

pansexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural pansexuals)

1. pansexual

Noun

pansexual m or f by sense (plural pansexuals)

1. pansexual

Related terms

• pansexualitat

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English pansexual. Equivalent to pan- +‎ sexual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpan.sek.suˈal/

Adjective

pansexual m or n (feminine singular pansexuală, masculine plural pansexuali, feminine and neuter plural pansexuale)

1. pansexual

Declension

Declension of pansexual

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	pansexual		pansexuală	pansexuali	pansexuale
	definite	pansexualul		pansexuala	pansexualii	pansexualele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	pansexual		pansexuale	pansexuali	pansexuale
	definite	pansexualului		pansexualei	pansexualelor	pansexualilor

Noun

pansexual m (plural pansexuali)

1. pansexual

Declension

Declension of pansexual

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) pansexual	pansexualul	(niște) pansexuali	pansexualii
genitive/dative	(unui) pansexual	pansexualului	(unor) pansexuali	pansexualilor
vocative	pansexualule		pansexualilor

Related terms

• pansexualitate

Spanish

Etymology

From pan- +‎ sexual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /panseɡˈswal/ [pãn.seɣ̞ˈswal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pan‧se‧xual

Adjective

pansexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural pansexuales)

1. pansexual

Derived terms

• pansexualidad

 

Noun

pansexual m or f by sense (plural pansexuales)

1. pansexual

Further reading

• “pansexual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014