bisexual
bi·sex·u·al/baɪˈsɛk.ʃʊ.əl/adjective, noun
bisexual is spelled B-I-S-E-X-U-A-L: 8 letters and 4 syllables (bi·sex·u·al). It appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bisexual means “Sexually attracted to both opposite-sex and same-sex individuals. (Compare pansexual.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bisexual?
| Letters | 8: B-I-S-E-X-U-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: bi·sex·u·al |
| In writing | 5.0 times per million words; the 11,198th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is bisexual?
Bisexual appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bisexual?
- UK /baɪˈsɛk.ʃʊ.əl/
- UK /baɪˈsɛk.ʃ(ʊ)l/
- UK /-sjʊ(ə)l/
Bisexual has 4 syllables, split bi·sex·u·al in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bisexual.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bisexual
- more bisexual comparative
- most bisexual superlative
- bi-sexual
- bisexuals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bisexual mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Sexually attracted to both opposite-sex and same-sex individuals. (Compare pansexual.)
- 2
Of flowers: having both pollen and seeds.
- 3
Of sporophytes: having both male and female organs.
- 4
Of gametophytes: producing both eggs and sperm.
- 5
Of fungi: producing both the "female" ascogonium and the "male" antheridium.
- 6
rareHermaphroditic/intersex, being both male and female, or alternating between being male and being female.
Midrash and Zohar present Adam as hermaphroditic or bisexual.
- 7
Androgynous.
- 8
Having two distinct sexes, male and female (as contrasted with unisexual or hermaphroditic).
noun
- 1
A person who is bisexual.
- 2
rareA plant or fungus, or part thereof, which is bisexual.
- 3
An organism (that is, a species) which has male and female sexes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate bisexual?
Wiktionary records 4 abbreviations of bisexual: GBT, GLB, LGB, bi.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bisexual in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bisexuel , bisexué , bisexuelle |
| German | bisexuell , zweigeschlechtig, zweigeschlechtlich , Bisexuelle, Bisexueller |
| Portuguese | bissexual , bissexuado , bi |
| Spanish | bisexual |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does bisexual come from?
From bi- + -sexual, via the French bisexuel (bi-, sexuel). Attested since 1792 as a synonym in botany for "hermaphroditic" ("having male and female parts"). First used of sexuality in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's 1886 Psychopathia Sexualis (in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof, due to the theory that people were naturally attracted to the opposite sex and so the brain or mind of a person attracted to "both" sexes (or to the same sex) must be partly of another sex and thus "hermaphroditic".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).