sex character
- noun
- /sɛks ˈkɛrɪktər/
- Specialized
:
carácter sexual
- The development of secondary sex characters, such as facial hair in men, occurs during puberty.
Examples
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Primary sex characters include organs like ovaries or testes.
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Some researchers have studied how psychological sex characters influence behavior.
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The sex character of the species is determined by genetics.
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Many animals exhibit distinct sex characters during mating season.
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Primary sex characters include physical traits like breasts in females and body hair in males.
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The development of secondary sex characters, such as wider shoulders in men, typically happens during adolescence.
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Many species display unique sex characters to attract mates during their breeding season.
Synonyms
1
5.8
A trait of body and mind linked to being male or female
1
6.1
A physical trait or a common behavior linked mainly to one sex
1
6.5
A physical change during puberty that shows male or female differences and does not help make babies
1
6.8
A body change at puberty that shows sex, like body hair and a deeper voice
A physical feature that differs between males and females, like body hair or a deep voice
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently built from 'sex' (biological classification) + 'character' (an attribute), so a learner who knows both words can infer this refers to an attribute associated with one biological sex. Although somewhat technical, it follows a straightforward noun–noun compositional pattern found across languages, making it accessible to B1 learners familiar with the constituents.
Etymology
Sex character comes from biology, where scientists used sex to mean 'male' or 'female' and character to mean a clear body or behaviour feature. So a sex character is a trait strongly linked to one biological sex, for example ovaries for females or facial hair for males.