Standard Lemma guide

hermaphrodite

adj · noun · 12 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /hɝˈmæfɹədaɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH ER0 M AE1 F R AH0 D AY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, not-comparable, offensive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Having both ovaries and testes or both stamens and pistils.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Combining two opposing qualities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A person possessing ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, offensive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Cosexual: an organism possessing both types of gonads; a flower possessing both stamens and pistils.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

Examples

  • An earthworm is a hermaphrodite.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

Examples

  • Comb jellies are sequential hermaphrodites.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A person or thing possessing two opposing qualities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A hermaphrodite brig.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: nautical, transport

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

A farm wagon convertible to multiple purposes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

An armoured fighting vehicle having features of both male tanks and female tanks.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: World-War-I, historical

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective satellite

Meaning 11

of animal or plant; having both male female reproductive organs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hermaphroditic

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: intersex, gynandromorph, androgyne, epicene, epicene person

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bisexual, bisexual person

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

117 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: خُنْثَوِيّ (ḵunṯawiyy) — having both male and female gonads
  • Bulgarian: хермафродитен (hermafroditen) — having both male and female gonads
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雌雄同體的 /雌雄同体的 (cíxióng tóngtǐ de) — having both male and female gonads
  • Danish: tvekønnet — having both male and female gonads
  • Danish: hermafroditisk — having both male and female gonads
  • Dutch: hermafrodiet — having both male and female gonads
  • Dutch: hermafrodiete — having both male and female gonads
  • Esperanto: hermafrodita — having both male and female gonads
  • Faroese: tvíkynjaður — having both male and female gonads
  • Finnish: hermafrodiitti — having both male and female gonads
  • French: hermaphrodite — having both male and female gonads
  • French: bisexué — having both male and female gonads
  • French: bisexuée — having both male and female gonads
  • German: hermaphroditisch — having both male and female gonads
  • German: zwittrig — having both male and female gonads
  • Icelandic: tvítóla — having both male and female gonads
  • Icelandic: tvítólaður — having both male and female gonads
  • Icelandic: tvítóli — having both male and female gonads
  • Irish: idirghnéasach — having both male and female gonads
  • Japanese: 半陰陽の (han'in'yō no) — having both male and female gonads
  • Japanese: 雌雄同体の (shiyūdōtai no) — having both male and female gonads
  • Malay: hermafrodit — having both male and female gonads
  • Malay: khunsa — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hermafrodittisk — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tvekjønna — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tvekjønnet — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hermafrodittisk — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tvikjønna — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tvekjønna — having both male and female gonads
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tvitola — having both male and female gonads
  • Polish: hermafrodyczny — having both male and female gonads
  • Portuguese: hermafrodita — having both male and female gonads
  • Romanian: hermafrodit — having both male and female gonads
  • Russian: гермафроди́тный (germafrodítnyj) — having both male and female gonads
  • Spanish: hermafrodita — having both male and female gonads
  • Volapük: härmafroditik — having both male and female gonads
  • Volapük: härmafroditanik — having both male and female gonads
  • Volapük: hihärmafroditanik jihärmafroditanik — having both male and female gonads
  • Polish: hermafrodyczny — combining two opposing qualities
  • Portuguese: ambivalente — combining two opposing qualities
  • Albanian: deledash — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Arabic: خُنْثَى (ḵunṯā) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Aramaic: אנדרוגינוס (androginos) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Belarusian: гермафрады́т (hjermafradýt) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Breton: divreizhadezh — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Bulgarian: хермафродит (hermafrodit) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Burmese: ဒွိလိင် (dwi.ling) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Catalan: hermafrodita — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Chinese Mandarin: 陰陽人 /阴阳人 (yīnyángrén) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Chinese Mandarin: 兩性人 /两性人 (liǎngxìngrén) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Czech: hermafrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Czech: obojetník — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Danish: hermafrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Dutch: hermafrodiet — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Esperanto: hermafrodito — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Esperanto: androgino — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Esperanto: ambaŭseksulo — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Estonian: hermafrodiit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Finnish: hermafrodiitti — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • French: hermaphrodite — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Galician: hermafrodita — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • German: Zwitter — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • German: Hermaphrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • German: Hermaphroditin — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • German: Zweigeschlecht — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Greek: ερμαφρόδιτος (ermafróditos) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Greek: ερμαφρόδιτη (ermafróditi) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Ancient Greek: ἑρμαφρόδιτος (hermaphróditos) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Ancient Greek: ἀνδρόγυνος (andrógunos) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Hebrew: הרמפרודיט (hermafrodit) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Hindi: हिजड़ा (hijṛā) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Icelandic: tvíkynjungur — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Irish: idirghnéas — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Irish: cadar — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Italian: ermafrodito — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Japanese: 双成り (futanari) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Japanese: 雌雄同体 (shiyuudoutai) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Kalmyk: саармг (saarmg) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Kazakh: қызтеке (qyzteke) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Khmer: ខ្ទើយ (ktəəy) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Lao: ກະເທີຍ (ka thœ̄i) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Lithuanian: hermafroditas — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Malay: khunsa — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Navajo: nádleeh — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hermafroditt — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hermafroditt — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tvitole — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tvitoling — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Old English: bǣddel — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Old English: wǣpenwīfestre — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Old Ruthenian: гермафродитъ (hermafrodit) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Persian: نرماده (narmāde) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Polish: hermafrodyta — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Polish: obojnak — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Portuguese: hermafrodita — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Portuguese: andrógino — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Portuguese: dígamo — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Romanian: hermafrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Russian: гермафроди́т (germafrodít) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Serbo-Croatian: hermafrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Serbo-Croatian: dvopolac — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Serbo-Croatian: dvopolnik — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Spanish: hermafrodita — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Sundanese: wandu — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Swahili: huntha — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Swedish: hermafrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Tagalog: balakihan — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Thai: แต๋ว (dtɛ̌o) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Turkish: erdişi — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Turkish: hermafrodit — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Turkish: erselik — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Turkish: hünsa — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Ukrainian: гермафроди́т (hermafrodýt) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Urdu: ہیجڑا (hijṛa) — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Vietnamese: người ái nam ái nữ — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Volapük: härmafroditan — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female
  • Volapük: hihärmafroditan jihärmafroditan — organism having both male and female gonads; person not prototypically male or female