A hermaphrodite is an organism that has both male and female reproductive organs. The term originates from Greek mythology and applies broadly across biology, from flowering plants to fish. When used in reference to humans, however, the word has largely been replaced by “intersex” or more specific medical diagnoses, because of its history of stigma and clinical imprecision.
Where the Term Comes From
The word traces back to Hermaphroditus, a figure in Greek mythology who was the child of Hermes and Aphrodite and combined male and female in both name and body. It entered English around 1398, initially describing an animal “comprising both sexes, male and female, but always unperfect,” as one early translation put it. For centuries, the word carried a connotation of abnormality when applied to people, even as it described a perfectly normal state in plants and many animal species.
By the 19th century, doctors became fixated on identifying a “true” sex in people whose bodies didn’t fit neatly into male or female categories. The definition of “true hermaphrodite” narrowed to mean only someone possessing both testicular and ovarian tissue, which is extremely rare. This narrow, pathologizing use is one reason medicine eventually moved away from the term altogether.
Hermaphroditism in Plants and Animals
In the rest of the natural world, hermaphroditism is common and unremarkable. Most flowering plants are hermaphroditic, producing blossoms (often called “perfect flowers”) that contain both pollen-producing and seed-producing structures in the same bloom. This is different from monoecious plants, which have separate male and female flowers on the same individual but never combine them into a single blossom.
Among animals, hermaphroditism takes two main forms. Simultaneous hermaphrodites carry functional male and female reproductive organs at the same time. Earthworms, many snails, and some species of coral and sponge fall into this category. Sequential hermaphrodites, on the other hand, change sex during their lifetime. Clownfish, for example, are born male and the dominant individual in a group becomes female (a pattern called protandry). Many species of wrasse do the opposite, starting female and becoming male (protogyny). Sex reversal appears in more than a dozen invertebrate groups and at least 27 families of fish, making it one of the more widespread reproductive strategies in nature.
Why Medicine Stopped Using the Word
For most of modern medical history, people born with atypical sex characteristics were classified as “true hermaphrodites,” “male pseudohermaphrodites,” or “female pseudohermaphrodites.” These labels were confusing for clinicians and often felt dehumanizing to patients and families. In 2006, a landmark consensus statement from an international group of medical professionals recommended retiring the entire framework. The replacement term, “disorders of sex development” (DSD), was grounded in genetics rather than gendered language, and it dropped the hierarchy between “true” and “pseudo” categories.
Even that replacement hasn’t settled the debate. Some patients and advocacy groups prefer “intersex.” Others prefer “differences of sex development” (same abbreviation, softer framing). A 2020 consensus statement from European and American pediatric urology societies noted that most affected patients and families actually prefer to be identified by their specific diagnosis rather than any umbrella term, finding broad labels like DSD or intersex confusing and sometimes stigmatizing. There is no universally accepted term, which is itself a sign of how personal and varied these experiences are.
How Intersex Variations Develop in Humans
Human sex development is a multi-step process involving chromosomes, hormones, and the physical structures that form in the womb. Variations can happen at any of these levels, which is why the range of intersex traits is so broad.
At the chromosomal level, most people have either XX or XY sex chromosomes, but some are born with other patterns. Turner syndrome involves a single X chromosome (45,X), and Klinefelter syndrome involves an extra X (47,XXY). Mosaic patterns, where some cells have one chromosome set and other cells have another, also occur.
A single gene can also redirect development in unexpected ways. The SRY gene, normally found on the Y chromosome, is the primary trigger for male-typical development. It signals the body to form testes and suppress the formation of a uterus. When this gene is missing or nonfunctional in someone with XY chromosomes, they develop female-typical anatomy despite their chromosome pattern. This is known as Swyer syndrome, and SRY variants account for about 15 percent of cases. The reverse happens too: if a piece of the Y chromosome carrying SRY accidentally attaches to an X chromosome during sperm formation, an XX individual can develop testes and male characteristics.
Hormonal variations add another layer. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is one of the more common conditions, where an XX individual is exposed to higher-than-typical levels of androgens in the womb, leading to masculinized external anatomy at birth despite having ovaries and a uterus internally. Other variations involve the body’s ability to produce or respond to specific hormones at various stages of development.
Experts estimate that up to 1.7 percent of people are born with some form of intersex trait, though many of these variations are subtle enough that they may not be noticed at birth or ever.
Rights and Medical Care
The care of intersex individuals, particularly children, has become one of the more charged topics in medicine. Historically, doctors performed surgeries on infants to make ambiguous genitalia conform to a clearly male or female appearance, often without waiting for the child to be old enough to participate in the decision. Multiple United Nations bodies and international human rights institutions have called these early, cosmetic procedures harmful, framing them as violations of bodily integrity and the right to informed consent.
Current clinical guidelines emphasize individualized, team-based care that includes endocrinologists, geneticists, urologists, psychologists, and the family. The 2020 European-American consensus stresses that blanket policies, whether banning all surgery or mandating it, fail individual patients. The guiding principle is that children should be involved in decisions to the greatest extent possible and that irreversible procedures should generally wait until the person can give informed consent, unless there is a clear medical necessity.
Several countries and international bodies have moved toward legal protections specifically recognizing intersex status, and some now offer a third gender marker on official documents. The broader push from human rights organizations is to remove the automatic classification of all sex variations as disorders, reducing stigma while preserving access to medical care when it’s genuinely needed and freely chosen.