Androsexual

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing a person who is sexually attracted to men or to masculine qualities regardless of their own gender identity
2. Referring to sexual orientation directed toward males or traits perceived as masculine, rather than toward women
3. Characterizing someone whose sexual attraction is oriented toward men and masculinity, independent of how that person identifies

Etymology: Androsexual is a plain compound: "andro-", from Ancient Greek "andros" meaning "of a man" or "male", joined to "-sexual", the English form of Latin "sexualis", which itself comes from "sexus" (sex). The combination describes attraction to men or masculinity, and is built on the same pattern as "heterosexual" and "homosexual", in which the prefix names the kind of person or quality drawn to. The "-sexual" element is the more interesting part. Latin "sexus" traces back through Proto-Italic to an Indo-European root, and the "-alis" ending gave the adjective "sexualis" in Latin. English took "sexual" from that Latin source, and in the modern era it became a productive suffix, letting writers coin new orientation terms by attaching a Greek or Latin prefix to it. The Greek prefix "andro-" is the older building block, appearing in English words such as "android" and "androgyny". Its pairing with "-sexual" is a recent formation, dating from the modern period when scientific and sexological vocabulary was being built from classical parts.

Synonyms: androphilic