sexual
sex·ual/sɛk.ʃuː.əl/adjective, noun
sexual is spelled S-E-X-U-A-L, 2 syllables: sex·ual. The wrong spelling people search most is sexaul: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 106 of all searches for the word. Sexual is an adjective meaning “Arising from the fact of being male or female; pertaining to sex or gender, or to the social relations…”.
How many letters and syllables are in sexual?
| Letters | 6: S-E-X-U-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sex·ual |
| In writing | 66 times per million words; the 1,602nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, sexaul, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell sexual?
Sexual is spelled S-E-X-U-A-L. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 64 of the searches for sexual in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is sexual?
Sexual appears 66 times per million words in written English, the 1,602nd 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 sexual?
- UK /sɛk.ʃuː.əl/
- UK /sɛk.sju.əl/
- UK /sɛks.jəl/
Sexual has 2 syllables, split sex·ual in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Scelultrix-sexual_(without_yod-coalescence).wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Scelultrix-sexual_(with_yod-coalescence).wav, En-us-sexual.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sexual
- more sexual comparative
- most sexual superlative
- sexuals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sexual mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Arising from the fact of being male or female; pertaining to sex or gender, or to the social relations between the sexes.
Women face sexual discrimination in the workplace.
- 2
Capable of sexual reproduction; sexed, sexuate.
- 3
Pertaining to sexual intercourse or other intimate physical contact.
Giving oral sex is my favorite sexual act.
- 4
Characterised by sexual feelings or behaviour; possessing sexuality.
She's a very sexual woman.
- 5
Pertaining to sexuality as a cultural phenomenon; relating to sexual behaviour or conduct.
a sexual innuendo
- 6
rareExperiencing sexual attraction; not asexual.
- 7
obsoletePertaining to the female sex.
noun
- 1
A species which reproduces by sexual rather than asexual reproduction, or a member of such a species.
- 2
A person who experiences sexual attraction, a person who has interest in or desire for sex (especially as contrasted with an asexual).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sexual in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 sexual come from?
Borrowed from Latin sexuālis. By surface analysis, sex + -ual.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).