"physical condition of having both male and female sexual organs," 1799, from French hermaphrodisme (1750s); see hermaphrodite + -ism. Hermaphroditism is from 1807; hermaphrodeity is from 1610s.
Entries linking to hermaphrodism
hermaphrodite n.
late 14c. (harmofroditus), from Latin hermaphroditus, from Greek hermaphroditos "person partaking of the attributes of both sexes," as a proper name, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who, in Ovid, was loved by the nymph Salmacis so ardently that she prayed for complete union with him and as a result they were united bodily, combining male and female characteristics.
Old English glosses the Latin word with wæpenwifestre, scritta, bæddel. Also used figuratively in Middle English of "one who improperly occupies two offices." As a name for the physical condition, Middle English had hermofrodito (late 14c.), hermofrodisia (early 15c.). As an adjective, from c. 1600. Also used of things of two natures, such as hermaphrodite brig, for a vessel square-masted fore and schooner-rigged aft.
-ism
word-forming element making nouns implying a practice, system, doctrine, etc., from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus (source also of Italian, Spanish -ismo, Dutch, German -ismus), from Greek -ismos, noun ending signifying the practice or teaching of a thing, from the stem of verbs in -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached. For distinction of use, see -ity. The related Greek suffix -isma(t)- affects some forms.