hermaphrodite
adj 1: of animal or plant; having both male female reproductive
organs [syn: hermaphroditic, hermaphrodite]
n 1: one having both male and female sexual characteristics and
organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or
female cannot be made [syn: hermaphrodite, intersex,
gynandromorph, androgyne, epicene, epicene person]
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Hermaphrodite \Her*maph"ro*dite\, n. [L. hermaphroditus, Gr. ?,
so called from the mythical story that Hermaphroditus, son of
Hermes and Aphrodite, when bathing, became joined in one body
with Salmacis, the nymph of a fountain in Caria: cf. F.
hermaphrodite.] (Biol.)
An individual which has the attributes of both male and
female, or which unites in itself the two sexes; an animal or
plant having the parts of generation of both sexes, as when a
flower contains both the stamens and pistil within the same
calyx, or on the same receptacle. In some cases reproduction
may take place without the union of the distinct individuals.
In the animal kingdom true hermaphrodites are found only
among the invertebrates. See Illust. in Appendix, under
Helminths.
[1913 Webster]
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HERMAPHRODITES. Persons who have in the sexual organs the appearance of both
sexes. They are adjudged to belong to that which prevails in them. Co. Litt.
2, 7; Domat, Lois Civ. liv. 1, t. 2, s. 1, n.. 9.
2. The sexual characteristics in the human species are widely
separated, and the two sexes are never, perhaps, united in the same
individual. 2 Dunglison's Hum. Physiol. 304; 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 94 to 110.
3. Dr. William Harris, in a lecture delivered to the Philadelphia
Medical Institute, gives an interesting account of a supposed hermaphrodite
who came under his own observation in Chester county, Pennsylvania. The
individual was called Elizabeth, and till the age of eighteen, wore the
female dress, when she threw it off, and assumed the name of Rees, with the
dress and habits of a man; at twenty-five, she married a woman, but had no
children. Her clitoris was five or six inches long, and in coition, which
she greatly enjoyed, she used this instead of the male organ. She lived till
she was sixty years of age, and died in possession of a large estate, which
she had acquired by her industry and enterprise. Medical Examiner, vol. ii.
p, 314. Vide 1 Briand, M�d. L�g. c. 2, art. 2, Sec. 2, n. 2; Dict. des
Sciences M�d. art. Hypospadias, et art. Impuissance; Guy, Med. Jur. 42, 47.
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