Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 12 down vote favorite

There are some places where men and women are segregated — for example public toilets and public swimming pool changing areas.

By this I mean, for example, that there are "Men's toilets" and "Ladies' toilets".

However, in some more cosmopolitan swimming baths, and other places, there are such things as unisex changing areas, or unisex toilets.

From my understanding uni- implies one, as in universe, unilateral or unicycle.

However when it comes to unisex, this means both sexes, so applies to two things.

How does uni- mean one in unisex? Does it mean one?

share|improve this question
4  
A more proper Latinism would be ambisex ("both sexes"), but of course if you say that no one will know what you're talking about. – JSBձոգչ Aug 9 '11 at 12:16
@JSBᾶngs: I feel like that most of the time ;) – Matt Эллен Aug 9 '11 at 12:48
Similarly - I always wondered why co-ed meant women instead of men+women – mgb Aug 9 '11 at 15:19
2  
@Martin Many colleges and universities used to have exclusively male students. When that changed and women were admitted, the institutions became "co-educational." The women were referred to as "co-educational students" or "co-eds" and although technically this could apply to the men as well, it was associated with the women because their presence made the institution mixed-sex. – KitFox♦ Aug 9 '11 at 18:00
2  
@KitΘδς - similarly homo-sexual should mean 'of the same sex' but apparently the football team don't like the description – mgb Aug 9 '11 at 20:23

1 Answer

up vote 9 down vote accepted

From the Oxford dictionary online, via Wikipedia:

The combining form uni- does normally mean 'one, having or consisting of one': it comes from Latin unus 'one'. It forms words such as unicycle, a term for a cycle with just one wheel, and unicellular, meaning 'consisting of a single cell'. And in fact the 20-volume historical Oxford English Dictionary contains entries for the words unisexual, meaning 'of one sex or relating to one sex' and unisexuality, meaning 'the state of being unisexual'. Both these words date back to the early 19th century.

Unisex is a much newer word: it was coined in the 1960s and originally used in relatively informal contexts. Its formation seems to have been influenced by words such as union, united, and universal, from which it took the sense of something that was shared. So unisex can be understood as referring to one thing (such as a clothing style or hairstyle) that is shared by both sexes.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.