Coed

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A young woman studying at a school or college that admits both men and women ; describing an institution or activity open to students of either sex
2. A female pupil enrolled at a mixed-sex school or university ; characterizing a school or program that accepts students regardless of gender
3. A woman attending a school that teaches both sexes together ; of a school or activity, involving male and female students studying side by side

Etymology: "Coed" is a clipping of "coeducational," a word built from the Latin prefix "co-," meaning "together," and "education." The clipped form is what most people use today, and it is used both as a noun for a female student at a mixed-sex school and as an adjective for the mixed-sex institution itself. The full word described schools that taught young men and women in the same classrooms, a practice that was unusual enough in earlier centuries that it needed its own name. The shortened form took hold in American English, where mixed-sex education spread widely, and the clipping then narrowed in use: "coed" came to mean the woman herself rather than the system she studied in.

Synonyms: coeducational, mixed

Antonyms: single-sex, single-gender