Omnisexuals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

  1. Individuals attracted to people of all genders, embracing an inclusive approach to sexual orientation
  2. People who experience sexual attraction without regard to gender, encompassing a broad spectrum of identities
  3. Those who engage romantically or sexually with partners regardless of their gender identity or expression

Etymology: "Omnisexual" is a compound of the Latin prefix "omni-", meaning "all," and "sexual," so the word literally describes attraction to all sexes or genders. The "-s" ending simply makes it the plural noun for people who identify this way. The word is a modern coinage rather than an ancient one. It emerged in the 20th century, when writers and sexologists were building new vocabulary around sexual orientation, and it came into wider use in English more recently, especially from the 1970s onward as terms for non-monosexual identities gained currency. The earliest recorded uses are uncertain in their exact dates, so it is safest to treat its introduction as a late-20th-century development. Its meaning is closely tied to "bisexual" and "pansexual," which overlap with it but are not identical. Some people use "omnisexual" for attraction that disregards gender entirely, while others use it interchangeably with "pansexual," so the boundary between the terms remains a matter of personal definition.