Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- an individual in which reproductive organs of both sexes are present.Compare pseudohermaphrodite.
- Biology. an organism, as an earthworm or plant, having normally both the male and female organs of generation.
- a person or thing in which two opposite qualities are combined.
adjective
- of, relating to, or characteristic of a hermaphrodite.
- combining two opposite qualities.
- Botany. monoclinous.
noun
- biology an individual animal or flower that has both male and female reproductive organs
- a person having both male and female sexual characteristics and genital tissues
- a person or thing in which two opposite forces or qualities are combined
adjective
- having the characteristics of a hermaphrodite
late 14c. (harmofroditus), from Latin hermaphroditus, from Greek Hermaphroditos (Latin Hermaphroditus), son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who, in Ovid, was loved by the nymph Salmacis so ardently that she prayed for complete union with him and as a result they were united bodily, combining male and female characteristics. Also used figuratively in Middle English of “one who improperly occupies two offices.” As a name for the condition, Middle English had hermofrodito (late 14c.), hermofrodisia (early 15c.). As an adjective, from c.1600.
n.
- An individual having the reproductive organs and many of the secondary sex characteristics of both sexes.
- An organism, such as an earthworm or flowering plant, having both male and female reproductive organs in a single individual.