Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- Older Use: Sometimes Disparaging. sexually attracted to members of one’s own sex: homosexual students.
- Older Use: Sometimes Disparaging. of or relating to sexual desire or behavior directed toward members of one’s own sex: the homosexual subculture.
- Archaic. of, relating to, or noting the same sex: pregnant with homosexual twins.
noun
- Older Use: Sometimes Disparaging. a homosexual person.
noun
- a person who is sexually attracted to members of the same sex
adjective
- of or relating to homosexuals or homosexuality
- of or relating to the same sex
1892, in C.G. Chaddock’s translation of Krafft-Ebing’s “Psychopathia Sexualis,” from German homosexual, homosexuale (by 1880, in Gustav Jäger), from homo-, comb. form of Greek homos “same” (see homo- (1)) + Latin-based sexual.
“Homosexual” is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it. It is, however, convenient, and now widely used. “Homogenic” has been suggested as a substitute. [H. Havelock Ellis, “Studies in Psychology,” 1897]
Sexual inversion (1883) was an earlier clinical term for it in English. The noun is recorded by 1895. In technical use, either male or female; but in non-technical use almost always male. Slang shortened form homo first attested 1929.
adj.
- Of, relating to, or having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex.
n.
- A homosexual person; a gay man or a lesbian.