What does unsex mean?
Unsex is an uncommon English verb with a deliberately blunt formation: it means to remove or reduce sexual characteristics, sexual potency, or sexual character. Applied to a work, performance, or presentation, it can suggest that suggestive or erotic force has been taken away; applied to an animal or person, it can refer more directly to neutering or castration. The verb is also used figuratively for making something seem less forceful, erotic, or conventionally masculine. Historical dictionaries record older senses involving effeminacy and castration, so context matters, especially when the word is applied to people. Unsex is not the same as the adjective unsexed, although the two forms are easily confused. In contemporary writing it is more often encountered in literary criticism, cultural analysis, or technical and historical descriptions than in everyday conversation. Its unusual directness makes it vivid in criticism, while its gendered and potentially demeaning associations make it unsuitable as a casual synonym for neuter.
verbTo remove or reduce sexual characteristics, potency, or distinction from a person, animal, work, or performance.
- To remove or reduce the sexual character, potency, or erotic force of a person, animal, work, or performance.
- Historically, to make someone effeminate or to castrate someone or an animal.
"By removing the suggestive staging, the producers had effectively unsexed the comedy."
"By removing the suggestive staging, the producers had effectively unsexed the comedy."
"The treatise discusses the historical use of castration to unsex laboratory animals and alter their behavior."
The word packs an unusually blunt idea into two syllables: to strip away sexual character or force.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unsex come from?
Unsex was formed in English in the early 17th century from the prefix un- and the word sex, with the meaning of removing or undoing sexual character or potency. Sex comes through Old French from Latin sexus, while sexual, sexualize, and sexuality belong to the same Latin-derived family. The modern sense developed from older uses associated with effeminacy and castration.
Related word forms
How unsex is actually used
Uncommon and somewhat literary, technical, or historical. Older senses involving effeminacy and castration make its application to people potentially demeaning; when used of gender presentation, it can sound reductive or offensive.
Easily confused with unsex
Unsex is the verb meaning to remove or reduce sexual character, whereas unsexed is the participial or adjectival form describing something that has undergone that process.