hermaphrodism

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to hermaphrodism: pseudohermaphroditism, intersex

hermaphroditism

[her-maf´ro-di-tizm″]

presence of both ovarian and testicular tissue and of ambiguous morphologic criteria of sex, a rare condition in human beings. Hermaphroditism is not to be confused with pseudohermaphroditism, in which an individual has only one kind of gonad but has significant secondary sex characters typical of the opposite sex.

bilateral hermaphroditism that in which gonadal tissue typical of both sexes occurs on each side of the body.

false hermaphroditism pseudohermaphroditism.

lateral hermaphroditism presence of gonadal tissue typical of one sex on one side of the body and typical of the other sex on the opposite side.

transverse hermaphroditism that in which the external genital organs are typical of one sex and the gonads typical of the other sex.

true hermaphroditism coexistence in the same person of both ovarian and testicular tissue, with somatic characters typical of both sexes.

unilateral hermaphroditism presence of gonadal tissue typical of both sexes on one side and of only an ovary or a testis on the other.

her·maph·ro·dit·ism

(her-maf'rō-dīt-izm),

The presence in one person of both ovarian and testicular tissue and ambiguous external genitalia; that is, true hermaphroditism.

Synonym(s): hermaphrodism

hermaphrodism

(hər-măf′rə-dĭz′əm)

Variant of hermaphroditism.

hermaphrodism

hermaphroditism.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Examining popular fiction such as Latouche's Fragoletta further reveals the previously overlooked connection between medical discourse on hermaphrodism and Gautier's representation of androgyny.

Lusting after the Louvre hermaphrodite: medical discourse and androgyny in Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin and its popular predecessors

Previous studies have brought up the possibility of hermaphrodism in striped mullet (Stenger, 1959; Atz, 1964; Moe, 1966); however, there is only one example of a simultaneous hermaphroditic striped mullet in the literature (Franks et al.

Sexual differentiation and gonad development in striped mullet (Mugil cephalus L.) from South Carolina estuaries *

Moreover, the museum records include no mention of behavioral or physical variation for any of the hermaphroditic specimens, and the collectors reported no knowledge of hermaphrodism.

Intersexuality and the cricket frog decline: historic and geographic trends

The noun can be a "trope" and a "figure" (xi), "the dialectical combination of male and female sexual characteristics" (ix), a "combination of masculine and feminine characteristics" (111), or even "hermaphrodism" (95), even though a footnote on page 87 draws a distinction between androgyny and hermaphrodism.

Gender and Citizenship: the Dialectics of Subject-Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture

Homosexuality is not a product of the heterosexual family; rather, transvestism, transsexualism, hermaphrodism and the varieties of homosexual and heterosexual sexual practice are all autonomous, equally valid and normal sexualities in their own right.

What's love got to do with it?

It is not true hermaphrodism, but rather the sharing of external, secondary sexual characteristics, such as the shape of the body or the tone of the voice.

"Big Chief Izzy Horowitz": Theatricality and Jewish Identity in the Wild West

Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transformed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul.

"Passionate fictions": portraits of female masculinity in The well of loneliness and Stone butch blues

Paracelsus, with his focus on the division of the sexes from the rebis, or pure state of hermaphrodism, proves a surprisingly effective guide to this terrain.

Loose Sugar

In the Great Lakes, for instance, researchers have documented the "wasting" of tern chicks within days of hatching, same-sex pairing of herring gulls, eggshell-thinning in numerous colonial bird species and bald eagles, deformities, cancer of reproductive organs and hermaphrodism in St.

Endocrine disruption: cause for concern, cause for action

This pattern begs two questions: (1) under what conditions is simultaneous hermaphrodism selected for, and (2) what is the optimum allocation of resources to male vs.

Reproductive strategies of modular organisms: comparative studies of reef-building corals

On the occurrence of protandric hermaphrodism in the mollusc Crepidula fornicata.

The slipper snail, Crepidula: an Emerging lophotrochozoan model system[dagger]

1998), hermaphrodism and demasculinized larynges (Hayes et al.

Survivorship patterns of larval amphibians exposed to low concentrations of atrazine