presexualadj.
/ˌpriːˈsɛkʃʊ(ə)l/, /ˌpriːˈsɛkʃ(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˌpriˈsɛkʃ(əw)əl/ Preceding or not yet influenced by sexual activity, awareness, or development; prepubertal.In quot. 1949: (Grammar) not (yet) differentiated by natural gender.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > [adjective] > presexual
presexual1915
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > gender > [adjective] > without gender
genderless1840
presexual1949
1915 Science 5 Nov. 658/1 In all major groups,..presexual and sexual phenomena, essentially similar to those of Metazoa are known.
1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. iv. xii. 164 Because our own sexuality is associated with sense of guilt, to us innocence implies a pre-sexual state of mind.
1925 D. H. Lawrence St. Mawr 204 They [sc. pine-trees] hedged one in with the power..of the pre-sexual primeval world.
1949 Archivum Linguisticum 1 168 A syntactic peculiarity of old Bulgarian declension..discloses the existence of a presexual division of nouns into animate and inanimate.
1985 P. Brown in B. McGinn et al. Christian Spirituality ii. xvii. 430 Adam and Eve were presented as presexual, and, by implication, as presocial beings.
1995 P. J. Hayward et al. in P. J. Hayward & J. S. Ryland Handbk. Marine Fauna N.W. Europe x. 550/1 Molluscs..a posterior metapodial gland on dorsal side of pre-sexual animal.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1915