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Added 9 October 2026

homosexual

/ˌhɒməʊˈsɛksjuːəl/ noun

In Latin: cinaedus, cinaedicus, draucus Coined: 1868, by Karl Maria Kertbeny Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about homosexual at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Someone who is sexually attracted to persons of the same sex.

adjective

Sexually attracted to members of your own sex.

Origin

Borrowed from German homosexual, from homo- (“same”) + sexual (“relating to sex or sexuality”), coined by Karl Maria Kertbeny in 1868, and popularized in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis (2nd ed. 1887, in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof (compare bisexual), displacing the slightly older term Uranian. Equivalent to homo- + -sexual.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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