Bi

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Describing someone who is romantically or sexually attracted to both men and women, or to more than one gender
2. Having attraction to people of more than one gender, or referring to a person with such an orientation
3. Used of a person who feels drawn to both men and women, or to a person who identifies with that orientation

Etymology: The word is a clipping of "bisexual," and its meaning comes from the prefix "bi-," which is Latin for "two" (from "bis," meaning "twice"). Its original sense was biological: a biologist could describe an organism as having both male and female characteristics. The sense of attraction to both sexes came later, and the attraction sense is the one that now dominates. The clipped form is more recent. Shortening "bisexual" to a single syllable most likely became common in the mid-twentieth century, when it was used as a noun for a person as well as an adjective. The short form now carries the sexual-attraction meaning, while the full word still keeps its older biological uses.

Synonyms: bisexual