Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

. The term can also mean gender-blindness or

gender neutrality Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) should avoid distinguish ...

. The term 'unisex' was coined as a neologism in the 1960s and was used fairly informally. The combining

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

''uni-'' is from Latin ''

unus Unus the Untouchable (also known as Gunther Bain, born Angelo Unuscione) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Unus is a mutant, and is named for his ability to consciously project an invisible force f ...

'', meaning ''one'' or ''single''. However, 'unisex' seems to have been influenced by words such as ''united'' and ''universal'', in which ''uni-'' takes the related sense ''shared''. Unisex then means ''shared by sexes''.AskOxford: Why does 'unisex' refer to something to do with various exes, not just one sex?
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Examples

Hair stylists and beauty salons that serve both men and women are often referred to as unisex. This is also typical of other services and products that had traditionally been separated by sexes, such as clothing shops or beauty products.

Public toilets A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

are commonly sex segregated but if that is not the case, they are referred to as

unisex public toilets Unisex public toilets (also referred to as gender-inclusive, gender-neutral, mixed-sex or all-gender, or without any prefix at all) are public toilets that are not separated by gender or sex. Unisex public toilets take different forms. They ma ...

. Unisex clothing includes garments like T-shirts; versions of other garments may be tailored for the different fits depending on one's

, such as jeans. The sharing of a pool or recreational facility by swimmers and others of various sexes is commonly referred to as

mixed bathing Mixed bathing is the sharing of a pool, beach or other place by swimmers of both sexes. Mixed bathing usually refers to swimming or other water-based recreational activities in public or semi-public facilities, such as hotel or holiday resort pool ...

. When a school admits students of various sexes, it may be called coeducational or a

mixed-sex school Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

References

Androgyny Gender equality Sexuality and society {{Sex-stub

Examples

See also

References