coeducational

American  

[koh-ej-oo-key-shuh-nl] / ˌkoʊ ɛdʒ ʊˈkeɪ ʃə nl /

adjective

1. educating the sexes jointly at the same institution or in the same classes.

   a coeducational state college.

2. of or relating to coeducation.

   coeducational programs.

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Other Word Forms

• coeducationalism noun
• coeducationally adverb

Etymology

Origin of coeducational

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; co- + educational

Explanation

Use the adjective coeducational to describe something that includes or allows both boys and girls. A coeducational summer camp, for example, has both male and female campers. Schools that aren't coeducational are known as "single-sex." Many women's colleges have begun admitting men over the years, gradually becoming coeducational. The most common way to use the word is to abbreviate it as "coed" or "co-ed." The adjective coeducational has been around since the 1880's, which is around the same time that many United States colleges and universities, previously open only to men, started accepting female students.

Example Sentences

Others began changing their admissions policies, as Texas Woman’s University did, admitting men as graduate students in the 1970s and becoming fully coeducational in 1994.

From Washington Post • Mar. 15, 2023

It was a rare coeducational establishment in a country where boys and girls were often kept separate.

From New York Times • Jul. 13, 2022

Generations of wealthy and powerful people have graduated from Mater Dei, which opened in 1950 as the first coeducational parochial school in Orange County.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2021

Critics noted that Ghairat studied at Kabul University when it was coeducational, graduating in 2008.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 29, 2021

That dormitory had once been coeducational, there were still urinals in one of the washrooms on our floor.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood