heterosexual

See also: heterosexuál

English

Etymology

From hetero- +‎ -sexual.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhɛtəɹəˈsɛkʃuəl/, /ˌhɛtəɹoʊˈsɛkʃuəl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌhɛtəɹəˈsɛkʃuəl/, /ˌhɛtɹəˈsɛkʃuəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

heterosexual (comparative more heterosexual, superlative most heterosexual)

1. (of a person or other animal) Sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex.
   • 2021 November 17, Thai PBS, “Thai charter court rules that only heterosexual marriages are constitutional”, in Thai PBS World‎, Bangkok: Thai Public Broadcasting Service, retrieved 2021-11-17:

     Thai charter court rules that only heterosexual marriages are constitutional: Same-sex marriage in Thailand will have to wait, as the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously today (Wednesday) that Section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code, defining marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, is constitutional.

2. (of a romantic or sexual act or relationship) Between two people of different sex.

   Coordinate terms: gay, homosexual, lesbian, same-sex, single-sex

   • 1983, Raymond J[oseph] Corsini, Anthony J[oseph] Marsella, Personality Theories, Research, & Assessment, Itasca, Ill.: F.E. Peacock Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 348:

     Early Adolescence. This is the high school period between 14 and 17 years of age. This is a confusing and stressful period for the teenager, because sexual impulses are now quite strong in spite of societal sanctions against heterosexual activity.

   • 1994, Martin S[tephen] Weinberg, Colin J[ohn] Williams, Douglas W. Pryor, Dual Attraction: Understanding Bisexuality, New York, N.Y.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 43:

     On the average, the [bisexual] women’s first heterosexual attraction and experience (at 11.6 and 14.7 years) occurred before their first homosexual attraction and experience (at 16.9 and 21.4 years).

   • 2015, Arlene Istar Lev, “Resilience in Lesbian and Gay Couples”, in Karen Skerrett, Karen Fergus, editors, Couple Resilience: Emerging Perspectives, Springer, →ISBN, part II (Resilient Processes and Applications to Specific Populations), page 46:

     Attempts at eliminating bias against LGBTQ people through education, academically and clinically, often lead to inclusion practices that are “added-on”, i.e., a family therapy course discusses same-sex couples as an addendum lecture at the end of the course, instead of infusing the material throughout the course. Green and Mitchell (2008) ask their readers to imagine authoring an article entitled “Therapy with Heterosexual Couples.”

3. (obsolete, medicine) Having a sexual desire for the opposite sex seen as unhealthy, including a proclivity for nonreproductive sex.

Synonyms

• (sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex): straight, hetero, hetty (gay slang), other-sex

Hyponyms

• heteroflexible
• cishet

Coordinate terms

sexual orientation adjectivesedit

• androsexual
• asexual, ace
• bisexual, bi
• demisexual, demi
• graysexual
• gynesexual
• heterosexual, straight, hetero
• homosexual
  • gay
  • lesbian
• omnisexual
• pansexual, pan
• polysexual
• sapiosexual

• heteroromantic

Derived terms

• anti-heterosexual
• antiheterosexual
• cisheterosexual
• heterosexualism
• heterosexualist
• heterosexuality
• heterosexualization
• heterosexualize
• heterosexually
• heterosexualness
• metrosexual
• monoheterosexual
• non-heterosexual
• nonheterosexual
• pseudoheterosexual

Related terms

• heterosocial
• heteroerotic
• heterogenital

Translations

sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex

Albanian: heteroseksual m Armenian: հետերոսեքսուալ (heterosekʻsual), տարասեռական (taraseṙakan) Azerbaijani: heteroseksual Bulgarian: хе́теросексуа́лен (bg) m (héteroseksuálen) Catalan: heterosexual (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 異性戀的 / 异性恋的 (zh) (yìxìngliàn de) Cornish: kenreydhek Czech: heterosexuální (cs) Danish: heteroseksuel Dutch: heteroseksueel (nl) Esperanto: aliseksema (eo), malgeja (eo) Faroese: hinskyndur Finnish: heteroseksuaalinen (fi) French: hétérosexuel (fr) Galician: heterosexual (gl) m or f Georgian: ჰეტეროსექსუალი (heṭeroseksuali) German: heterosexuell (de) Greek: ετεροφυλόφιλος (el) (eterofylófilos) Hungarian: heteroszexuális (hu) Ido: heterosexuala (io) Interlingua: heterosexual Irish: heitrighnéasach Italian: eterosessuale (it) Japanese: 異性の (ja) (いせいの, isei no) Kazakh: гетеросексуалды (geteroseksualdy) Malay: heteroseksual Manx: hetracheintyssagh Maori: taearo, taera tauaro, piri tauaro, piriaro Marathi: विषमलिंगी (viṣamliṅgī) Persian: دگرجنس‌گرا (fa) (degarjens-garâ) Polish: heteroseksualny (pl) m Portuguese: heterossexual (pt) m or f, hétero (pt) Romanian: heterosexual (ro) Russian: гетеросексуа́льный (ru) (getɛrosɛksuálʹnyj), натура́л (ru) m (naturál) (noun), гетеросексуал (ru) (geteroseksual) Scottish Gaelic: iol-ghnèitheach Slovak: heterosexuálny (sk) Spanish: heterosexual (es) Swedish: heterosexuell (sv) Tajik: дигарҷинсгаро (tg) (digarjinsgaro) Turkish: heteroseksüel (tr) Vietnamese: dị tính luyến ái (vi) (異性戀愛) Welsh: anghyfunryw, gwahanrywiol, heterorywiol (cy)

Noun

heterosexual (plural heterosexuals)

1. A heterosexual person, or other heterosexual organism.
   • 2001, John K. Wilson, How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People:

     The laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation apply to all people, gay and straight alike. If an antistraight boss starts firing heterosexuals, they're protected.

Synonyms

• (heterosexual person): straight (especially in the plural), hetero, hetty (gay slang), breeder (humorous, often offensive)

Antonyms

• homosexual

Translations

a heterosexual organism

Albanian: heteroseksual m Armenian: տարասեռական (taraseṙakan) Azerbaijani: heteroseksual Catalan: heterosexual (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 異性戀者 / 异性恋者 (yìxìngliànzhě) Czech: heterosexuál (cs) m Danish: heteroseksuel Dutch: heteroseksueel (nl) m or f Esperanto: aliseksemulo (eo) (male or female), aliseksemuliĉo (male, neologism), aliseksemulino (eo) (female) Estonian: heteroseksuaal, hetero, vastassooihar Finnish: heteroseksuaali (fi), hetero (fi) French: hétérosexuel (fr), hétéro (fr) m Galician: heterosexual (gl) m or f, hetero m German: Heterosexueller (de) m, Heterosexuelle (de) f, Hetero (de) m Greenlandic: anguteqatiginngisaminik atoqateqartartoq (male), arnaqatiginngisaminik atoqateqartartoq (female) Hungarian: heteroszexuális (hu), heteró Ido: heterosexualo (io) Interlingua: heterosexual Irish: heitrighnéasach m, díreach Italian: eterosessuale (it) m or f Japanese: 異性愛者 (ja) (いせいあいしゃ, iseiaisha), ヘテロ (ja) (hetero), ノンケの (nonke no) Korean: 이성애자 (ko) (iseong'aeja) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: مێباز (mêbaz) (male), نێرباز (nêrbaz) (female) Persian: دگرجنس‌گرا (fa) (degarjens-gerâ), هتروسکسوئل (heteroseksu'el) Polish: hetero (pl) Portuguese: heterossexual (pt), hétero (pt) m or f Romanian: heterosexual (ro) m, heterosexuală f Russian: гетеросексуа́л (ru) m (getɛrosɛksuál), натура́л (ru) m (naturál), стрейт (ru) m (strɛjt) Sami: Inari: heteroseksual, hetero Northern: heterofiila, heteroseksuála, hetero Skolt: heteroseksuaal, hetero Scottish Gaelic: iol-ghnèitheach m Slovak: heterosexuál m, heterosexuálka f Spanish: heterosexual (es) m or f by sense, hetero (es) m or f by sense Swedish: hetero (sv) n Tajik: дигарҷинсгаро (tg) (digarjinsgaro) Turkish: heteroseksüel (tr)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˌɛ.tə.ɾu.sək.suˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˌɛ.tə.ɾo.sək.suˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˌɛ.te.ɾo.sek.suˈal]

Adjective

heterosexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural heterosexuals)

1. heterosexual

Noun

heterosexual m or f by sense (plural heterosexuals)

1. heterosexual

Related terms

• heterosexualitat

Galician

Etymology

From hetero- +‎ sexual.

Adjective

heterosexual m or f (plural heterosexuais)

1. heterosexual

Noun

heterosexual m or f by sense (plural heterosexuais)

1. heterosexual

Antonyms

• homosexual

Derived terms

• heterosexualidade

Related terms

• heterofobia

German

Etymology

Coined by Austro-Hungarian writer, journalist, translator and bibliographer Karl-Maria Kertbeny in 1868, from hetero- +‎ sexual.

Adjective

heterosexual (strong nominative masculine singular heterosexualer, not comparable)

1. Dated form of heterosexuell.

   Coordinate term: homosexual

Declension

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist heterosexual	sie ist heterosexual	es ist heterosexual	sie sind heterosexual
strong declension (without article)	nominative	heterosexualer	heterosexuale	heterosexuales	heterosexuale
	genitive	heterosexualen	heterosexualer	heterosexualen	heterosexualer
	dative	heterosexualem	heterosexualer	heterosexualem	heterosexualen
	accusative	heterosexualen	heterosexuale	heterosexuales	heterosexuale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der heterosexuale	die heterosexuale	das heterosexuale	die heterosexualen
	genitive	des heterosexualen	der heterosexualen	des heterosexualen	der heterosexualen
	dative	dem heterosexualen	der heterosexualen	dem heterosexualen	den heterosexualen
	accusative	den heterosexualen	die heterosexuale	das heterosexuale	die heterosexualen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein heterosexualer	eine heterosexuale	ein heterosexuales	(keine) heterosexualen
	genitive	eines heterosexualen	einer heterosexualen	eines heterosexualen	(keiner) heterosexualen
	dative	einem heterosexualen	einer heterosexualen	einem heterosexualen	(keinen) heterosexualen
	accusative	einen heterosexualen	eine heterosexuale	ein heterosexuales	(keine) heterosexualen

Positive forms of heterosexual (uncomparable)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French hétérosexuel. Equivalent to hetero- +‎ sexual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌhe.te.ro.sek.suˈal/

Adjective

heterosexual m or n (feminine singular heterosexuală, masculine plural heterosexuali, feminine and neuter plural heterosexuale)

1. heterosexual

Declension

Declension of heterosexual

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	heterosexual		heterosexuală		heterosexuali	heterosexuale
	definite	heterosexualul		heterosexuala		heterosexualii	heterosexualele
genitive- dative	indefinite	heterosexual		heterosexuale		heterosexuali	heterosexuale
	definite	heterosexualului		heterosexualei		heterosexualilor	heterosexualelor

Noun

heterosexual m (plural heterosexuali, feminine equivalent heterosexuală)

1. a heterosexual

Declension

Declension of heterosexual

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	heterosexual	heterosexualul		heterosexuali	heterosexualii
genitive-dative	heterosexual	heterosexualului		heterosexuali	heterosexualilor
vocative	heterosexualule			heterosexualilor

Related terms

• heterosexualitate

Spanish

Etymology

From hetero- +‎ sexual.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eteɾoseɡˈswal/ [e.t̪e.ɾo.seɣ̞ˈswal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: he‧te‧ro‧se‧xual

Adjective

heterosexual m or f (masculine and feminine plural heterosexuales)

1. heterosexual

Noun

heterosexual m or f by sense (plural heterosexuales)

1. heterosexual

   Antonym: homosexual

Derived terms

• heterosexualidad

Related terms

• heterofobia

Further reading

• “heterosexual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10