different between sexual vs lewd

English

Etymology

From Latin sexu?lis, from sexus (“sex”); see sex.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?k?u?l/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?k?u?l/, /?s?ksju?l/
• Rhymes: -?k?u?l

Adjective

sexual (comparative more sexual, superlative most sexual)

1. Arising from the fact of being male or female; pertaining to sex or gender, or to the social relations between the sexes. [from 17th c.]

2. (biology) Capable of sexual reproduction; sexed, sexuate. [from 19th c.]
3. Pertaining to sexual intercourse or other intimate physical contact. [from 18th c.]

4. Characterised by sexual feelings or behaviour; possessing sexuality. [from 19th c.]
   • 1994, Purity & passion ?ISBN, page 67:

     We don't often think of Jesus as a sexual person, but He certainly was not asexual. He was not just God on earth. He was fully human and […] He was sexual, single, and celibate.

5. Pertaining to sexuality as a cultural phenomenon; relating to sexual behaviour or conduct. [from 19th c.]

6. (LGBT, of a person, rare) Experiencing sexual attraction; not asexual.

   Synonym: allosexual

   • 2016, Kyell Gold, Black Angel, Kyell Gold (?ISBN):

     […] “You know, there are asexuals with sexual partners.” His ears flicked, and he grinned. “There's things both of us can try to do […] ”

   • 2017, T. T. Monday, Double Switch, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (?ISBN), page 98:

     Izzy tells me that at her high school the most useful distinction is not between heterosexuals and homosexuals but between those who are sexual and those who are not. The abstainers call themselves “aces,” short for “asexuals.”

7. (obsolete) Pertaining to the female sex. [17th–19th c.]

   Synonym: feminine

Derived terms

Related terms

• sex

Descendants

• Japanese: ????? (sekusharu)

Translations

See also

• See also Thesaurus:copulation

Noun

sexual (plural sexuals)

1. (biology) A species which reproduces by sexual rather than asexual reproduction, or a member of such a species.

   Antonym: asexual

2. (LGBT) A person who experiences sexual attraction, a person who has interest in or desire for sex (especially as contrasted with an asexual).
   • 2012, Issues in Sexuality and Sexual Behavior Research: 2011 Edition, ScholarlyEditions (?ISBN)

     The findings suggest that asexuality is best conceptualized as a lack of sexual attraction; however, asexuals varied greatly in their experience of sexual response and behavior. Asexuals partnered with sexuals acknowledged having to 'negotiate' sexual activity.

   • 2015, Mark Carrigan, Kristina Gupta, Todd G. Morrison, Asexuality and Sexual Normativity: An Anthology, Routledge (?ISBN), page 11:

     In this article we use absence of sexual attraction to others as a definition but recognise that this definition is contested. […] [A survey] was also advertised online (without explicitly mentioning asexuality in the advert), thus aiming to reach a mixture of asexuals and sexuals.

   Synonym: allosexual

   Antonym: asexual

Further reading

• sexual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sexual in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• aluxes

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin sexualis.

Adjective

sexual (epicene, plural sexuales)

1. sexual

Related terms

• sexu

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin sexu?lis, attested from 1839.

Adjective

sexual (masculine and feminine plural sexuals)

1. sexual

Derived terms

• assetjament sexual
• orientació sexual
• sexualitat
• sexualment

Related terms

• sexe

References

Further reading

• “sexual” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sexual” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “sexual” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin sexu?lis.

Adjective

sexual m or f (plural sexuais)

1. sexual

Derived terms

• sexualidade
• sexualmente

Related terms

• sexo

Further reading

• “sexual” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

German

Etymology

From Latin sexu?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /z?ksu?a?l/, /s?ksu?a?l/
• Hyphenation: se?xu?al

Adjective

sexual (comparative sexualer, superlative am sexualsten)

1. (uncommon) sexual

Declension

Related terms

• sexuell

Further reading

• “sexual” in Duden online
• “sexual” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin sexualis.

Adjective

sexual m (feminine singular sexuala, masculine plural sexuals, feminine plural sexualas)

1. sexual

Derived terms

• sexualitat

Related terms

• sèxe

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin sexu?lis.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /s??kswa?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /se.ksu.?aw/

Adjective

sexual m or f (plural sexuais, comparable)

1. sexual

Inflection

Derived terms

• sexualidade
• sexualmente

Related terms

• sexo

Further reading

• “sexual” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin sexu?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [seksu?al]

Adjective

sexual m or n (feminine singular sexual?, masculine plural sexuali, feminine and neuter plural sexuale)

1. sexual

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

From Late Latin sexu?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /se??swal/, [se???swal]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

sexual (plural sexuales)

1. sexual

Derived terms

Related terms

• sexo

Further reading

• “sexual” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lewed, lewd, leued (“unlearned, lay, lascivious”), from Old English l?wede (“unlearned, ignorant, lay”), of obscure origin; most likely a derivative of the past participle of l?wan (“to reveal, betray”) in the sense of "exposed as being unlearned" or "easily betrayed, clueless", from Proto-Germanic *l?wijan? (“to betray”), from *l?w? (“an opportunity, cause”), from Proto-Indo-European *l?w- (“to leave”). Or, according to the OED, from Vulgar Latin *laigo-, from Late Latin laicus (“of the people”).

Cognate with Old High German gil?en, firl?en (“to betray”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gal?wjan, “to give over, betray”), Gothic ???????????? (l?w, “an opportunity, cause”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lju?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lud/
• enPR: lo?od

• Rhymes: -u?d

• Homophone: leud

Adjective

lewd (comparative lewder, superlative lewdest)

1. Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.
   • 2014 August 11, w:Dave Itzkoff, "Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times

     Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him.

2. (obsolete) Lay; not clerical.
   • 1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum

     So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they.

3. (obsolete) Uneducated.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     My ?coles are not for unthriftes untaught,
     For frantick faitours half mad and half ?traught;
     But my learning is of another degree
     To taunt theim like liddrons, lewde as thei bee.

4. (obsolete) Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.

   • But the Jews, which believed not, […] took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, […] and assaulted the house of Jason.

   • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society

     Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief.

5. (obsolete) Base, vile, reprehensible.

Derived terms

• lewdsby
• lewdness
• lewdster

Translations

Noun

lewd (plural lewds)

1. A sexually suggestive image, particularly one which does not involve full nudity.
   • 1944, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 217, page 25:

     Nudes, lewds and smutty outhouse cards, although they can be bought in some of the rowdy joints, are a negligible percentage of the total, and are unobtainable in the chain stores, drugstores and travel stations which are the outlets for […]

   • 1996, Cigar Aficionado, page 309:

     […] also put it, he learned “the difference between nudes and lewds."

Verb

lewd (third-person singular simple present lewds, present participle lewding, simple past and past participle lewded)

1. To express lust; to behave in a lewd manner.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Etymology 2

Verb

lewd (third-person singular simple present lewds, present participle lewding, simple past and past participle lewded)

1. (slang) Alternative form of lude (“take the drug quaalude”)

Anagrams

• Weld, weld

Middle English

Adjective

lewd

1. Alternative form of lewed