Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 2 months ago. Active 7 years, 4 months ago. Viewed 33k times. By this I mean, for example, that there are "Men's toilets" and "Ladies' toilets".
However when it comes to unisex, this means both sexes, so applies to two things. How does uni- mean one in unisex? Does it mean one? Improve this question. Matt E. A more proper Latinism would be ambisex "both sexes" , but of course if you say that no one will know what you're talking about. Martin Many colleges and universities used to have exclusively male students. When that changed and women were admitted, the institutions became "co-educational.
Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. From the Oxford dictionary online , via Wikipedia : The combining form uni- does normally mean 'one, having or consisting of one': it comes from Latin unus 'one'. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Bulwersator Bulwersator 3 3 silver badges 8 8 bronze badges. Mari-Lou A 84k 80 80 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile.
Version labels for answers. Linked 1. Related 2. Hot Network Questions. Question feed. And in fact the volume historical Oxford English Dictionary contains entries for the words unisexual , meaning 'of one sex or relating to one sex' and unisexuality , meaning 'the state of being unisexual'.
Both these words date back to the early 19th century. Unisex is a much newer word: it was coined in the s and originally used in relatively informal contexts.
Its formation seems to have been influenced by words such as union , united , and universal , from which it took the sense of something that was shared. So unisex can be understood as referring to one thing such as a clothing style or hairstyle that is shared by both sexes.
See other Vocabulary Questions. You may also be interested in: Does 'bimonthly' mean 'twice a month' or 'every two months'?
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