asexual
English
Etymology
From a- (“lacking, without”) + -sexual.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /eɪˈsɛk.ʃuː.əl/, /eɪˈsɛk.sjuː.əl/
- (US) IPA(key): /eɪˈsɛk.ʃu.əl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛkʃuːəl
- Hyphenation: a‧sex‧u‧al
Adjective
asexual (not comparable)
- Nonsexual in nature, unmarked by sexual activity.
- Coordinate term: platonic
- 2004, Martha Vicinus, Intimate Friends: women who loved women, 1778-1928, page 150:
- The central paradox of Linton's writing was her inability, or unwillingness, to imagine an asexual friendship between women.
- (especially of a person) Not experiencing sexual attraction; lacking interest in or desire for sex.
- 2010, Jerrold S. Greenberg, Clint E. Bruess, Sarah C. Conklin, Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality, fourth edition, pages 357-358:
- Many asexual people experience attraction, but feel no need to act out that attraction sexually. Because they don't see a lack of sexual arousal as a problem to be corrected, asexual people focus their energy on enjoying other types of arousal and pleasure.
- 2021 March 21, Jamie Waters, “‘I don’t want sex with anyone’: the growing asexuality movement”, in The Observer[1]:
- Benoit is determined to ensure other asexual (or “ace”) people don’t feel broken or alone in a world in which lust and desire pulsate through our entire culture.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:asexual.
- (biology) Lacking distinct sex, lacking sexual organs.
- Synonym: epicene
- (biology) Without sexual action; reproducing by some other method than sex.
Antonyms
Coordinate terms
- (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), polysexual (-ity), sapiosexual (-ity), androsexual (-ity), gynesexual (-ity) (Category: en:Sexual orientations)
Derived terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
asexual (plural asexuals)
- (biology) A species which reproduces by asexual rather than sexual reproduction, or a member of such a species.
- 2009, Isa Schön, Giampaolo Rossetti, Koen Martens, Darwinulid Ostracods: Ancient Asexual Scandals or Scandalous Gossip?, published as Chapter 11 of Lost Sex: The Evolutionary Biology of Parthenogenesis, Isa Schön, Koen Martens, Peter van Dijk (editors), page 221:
- 11.2 Demonstrating the Status of Long-Lived Asexuals
- [...] Indeed, if sex has so many advantages, then which special adaptations - if any - allow long-term survival without it? However, the main task of the research teams dealing with such putative ancient asexuals has thus far been to demonstrate that their respective groups (mainly bdelloids, darwinulids and certain lineages within orbatid mites) indeed merit the status.
- 2009, Isa Schön, Giampaolo Rossetti, Koen Martens, Darwinulid Ostracods: Ancient Asexual Scandals or Scandalous Gossip?, published as Chapter 11 of Lost Sex: The Evolutionary Biology of Parthenogenesis, Isa Schön, Koen Martens, Peter van Dijk (editors), page 221:
- A person who does not experience sexual attraction; a person who lacks interest in or desire for sex.
- (rare) Something which does not have a sex, or a word which refers to such a thing.
- 1936, The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, volume 35, page 323:
- […] The masculine forms are used to a considerable extent in congruence with etymologically masculine nouns; also with etymologically feminine asexuals; e.g. se stefn L 9, 36; [...] The neuter forms are used with etymologically neuter nouns; with etymologically masculine asexuals; e.g. þ cyrtil L 6, 29; J 19, 23; þ penning L 20, 24; bēam (Lindelof p. 9) ; stān (Lindelof p. 11); and with etymologically feminine asexuals; e.g. [...]
Antonyms
Translations
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Usage notes
- Asexual (in the sense of lacking sexual attraction or desire) should not be confused with hyposexual (see usage notes at hyposexuality) or non-libidoist.
See also
- (romantic orientations) romantic orientation; aromantic (-ism), biromantic (-ism), demiromantic (-ism), heteroromantic (-ism), homoromantic (-ism), panromantic (-ism), transromantic (Category: en:Romantic orientations)
- fission, gemmation
Catalan
Pronunciation
Adjective
asexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural asexuals)
Noun
asexual m or f by sense (plural asexuals)
Antonyms
Related terms
Galician
Pronunciation
Adjective
asexual m or f (plural asexuais)
Noun
asexual m or f by sense (plural asexuais)
Antonyms
Further reading
- “asexual”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024
German
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Adjective
asexual (strong nominative masculine singular asexualer, not comparable)
Declension
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | |||
predicative | er ist asexual | sie ist asexual | es ist asexual | sie sind asexual | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | asexualer | asexuale | asexuales | asexuale |
genitive | asexualen | asexualer | asexualen | asexualer | |
dative | asexualem | asexualer | asexualem | asexualen | |
accusative | asexualen | asexuale | asexuales | asexuale | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der asexuale | die asexuale | das asexuale | die asexualen |
genitive | des asexualen | der asexualen | des asexualen | der asexualen | |
dative | dem asexualen | der asexualen | dem asexualen | den asexualen | |
accusative | den asexualen | die asexuale | das asexuale | die asexualen | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein asexualer | eine asexuale | ein asexuales | (keine) asexualen |
genitive | eines asexualen | einer asexualen | eines asexualen | (keiner) asexualen | |
dative | einem asexualen | einer asexualen | einem asexualen | (keinen) asexualen | |
accusative | einen asexualen | eine asexuale | ein asexuales | (keine) asexualen |
Related terms
Further reading
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from English asexual. Equivalent to a- + sexual.
Pronunciation
Adjective
asexual m or n (feminine singular asexuală, masculine plural asexuali, feminine and neuter plural asexuale)
Declension
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | asexual | asexuală | asexuali | asexuale | ||
definite | asexualul | asexuala | asexualii | asexualele | |||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | asexual | asexuale | asexuali | asexuale | ||
definite | asexualului | asexualei | asexualelor | asexualilor |
Noun
asexual m (plural asexuali)
Declension
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) asexual | asexualul | (niște) asexuali | asexualii |
genitive/dative | (unui) asexual | asexualului | (unor) asexuali | asexualilor |
vocative | asexualule | asexualilor |
Related terms
Spanish
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
asexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural asexuales)
Derived terms
Noun
asexual m or f by sense (plural asexuales)
Further reading
- “asexual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- English terms prefixed with a- (not)
- English terms suffixed with -sexual
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛkʃuːəl
- Rhymes:English/ɛkʃuːəl/4 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- en:Biology
- en:Sexual orientations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with rare senses
- English hybridisms
- en:LGBT
- en:People
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns with no feminine ending
- Catalan masculine nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns
- Catalan nouns with multiple genders
- Catalan masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- ca:Sexual orientations
- Galician terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Galician/al
- Rhymes:Galician/al/3 syllables
- Galician lemmas
- Galician adjectives
- Galician nouns
- Galician countable nouns
- Galician masculine nouns
- Galician feminine nouns
- Galician nouns with multiple genders
- Galician masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- German compound terms
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German lemmas
- German adjectives
- German uncomparable adjectives
- German terms with uncommon senses
- Romanian terms borrowed from English
- Romanian terms derived from English
- Romanian terms prefixed with a-
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian adjectives
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian masculine nouns
- ro:Sexual orientations
- Spanish terms prefixed with a-
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/al
- Rhymes:Spanish/al/3 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Spanish feminine nouns
- Spanish nouns with multiple genders
- Spanish masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- es:Sexual orientations