unisexual

[yoo-nuh-sek-shoo-uhl]

adjective

1. of or relating to one sex only.

2. having only male or female organs in one individual, as an animal or a flower.

3. unisex.

unisexual

/ ˌjuːnɪˈsɛksjʊəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to one sex only

2. (of some organisms) having either male or female reproductive organs but not both

unisexual

1. Having the sex organs of only one sex; not hermaphroditic. Used of organisms.

2. Having stamens and pistils in separate flowers borne on the same plant; diclinous. Used of flowers.

Other Word Forms

• unisexuality noun
• unisexually adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of unisexual¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; uni- + sexual

Example Sentences

Sun and Duke mycologist Joseph Heitman have described unisexual reproduction in detail in the single-celled fungus Cryptococcus, and researchers in Germany recently documented it in an edible species.

From Science Magazine

A key limitation of this study, both Greenwald and Neiman point out, is that the researchers didn't compare the regeneration rates of the unisexual salamanders with those of which they share a genome.

From National Geographic

These include unisexual whiptail lizards and deadbeat cassowary moms, which abandon hatchlings to Dad’s care.

From Washington Post

Several Ambystoma species are unisexual – that is, they consist only of parthenogenetic females.

From Scientific American

Spikelets of a single perfect or unisexual or rudimentary flower, in jointed spikes, in pairs at each joint, mostly imbedded in the thick rhachis.

From Project Gutenberg