What does intercourse mean?
Intercourse most commonly denotes sexual activity between two people, particularly activity involving genital contact. In this sense, it can be used neutrally in medical, legal, educational, and historical writing, although its clinical tone may make phrases such as “make love” more suitable for personal contexts. Intercourse can also mean communication or exchange between people or groups, as in diplomatic intercourse or scholarly intercourse. This broader sense is somewhat formal and literary but remains common in discussions of politics, culture, education, and interpersonal relations. The word’s range of meanings reflects an underlying idea of connection: sexual intercourse brings bodies into contact, while social or intellectual intercourse brings people or groups into communication. Although its primary modern use concerns sexuality, its older and less frequent uses should not be mistaken for obsolete or incorrect. In careful writing, the context usually determines whether “intercourse” refers to sexual activity or to the exchange of ideas and social interaction.
nounSexual activity in which two people make bodily contact, especially contact involving the genitals; also, communication or exchange between people, groups, or institutions.
- Sexual activity involving bodily contact between two people, especially contact involving the genitals.
- Communication, interaction, or exchange between people, groups, or institutions.
"The couple maintained a relationship built on tenderness, trust, and frequent intercourse."
"Their conversations during their first year of marriage developed into deep emotional intercourse."
"The report encourages frank intercourse between physicians and patients about treatment options."
Usually uncountable in modern usage, especially for sexual activity. The plural is uncommon and is now encountered chiefly in the older sense of separate communications or exchanges.
"Nineteenth-century accounts sometimes described social intercourses between people who would not ordinarily have met."
Its name literally evokes a “running between”: Latin “currere” means “to run,” and “intercourse” originally referred to movement or exchange between people.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does intercourse come from?
Intercourse comes from Latin intercourse, a noun formed from inter-, meaning “between,” and currere, meaning “to run.” The Latin word referred to a running or passage between places and came to denote communication or exchange. English borrowed the term for social and intellectual interaction before developing its modern sexual sense, and it has cognates in other Romance languages.
How intercourse is actually used
The sexual sense is standard but can sound clinical or formal in some contexts; “make love” is often warmer and more personal. The sense meaning communication or exchange is especially common in formal, literary, or diplomatic contexts and is less frequent in everyday modern English.