co-ed
/'kou'ed/ Cách viết khác : (coed) /'kou'ed/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Attended by or consisting of both male and female members: Used to describe an institution, activity, or space that is open to or includes both sexes, typically in an educational context.
- Noun:
- A female student at a coeducational institution: A woman studying at a college or university that admits both male and female students.
Usage
- Adjective:
- The term is used attributively to modify nouns like school, college, dormitory, or sports team.
- It describes the integrated nature of the institution or activity.
- Noun:
- The term is used to refer specifically to a woman in the context of a mixed-sex educational environment.
- It can be considered informal or dated in some contexts.
Examples
- Adjective:
- She attended a co-ed high school.
- The university offers co-ed housing options for students.
- Noun:
- In the 1960s, she was one of the few co-eds on the engineering campus.
- The party was popular with the co-eds from the nearby college.
Advanced Usage
- The term co-ed as an adjective is standard. As a noun, its use has declined in favor of more neutral terms like or , as can be seen as defining the female student primarily by the gender composition of the institution.
- In contemporary usage, coeducational (the full form) is often preferred in formal writing, with co-ed remaining common in informal speech and historical contexts.
Variants and Related Words
- Coeducation (n): The education of students of both sexes together.
- The move toward coeducation transformed the campus culture.
- Coeducational (adj): The full, formal adjective synonymous with .
- It is a coeducational university.
Synonyms
- Adjective: integrated, mixed-sex, coeducational.
- Noun: female student, woman student (more neutral alternatives).
Notes on Usage
- The noun form co-ed originated as a shortening of "coeducational student." Its use to refer only to female students highlights the historical norm where education was often single-sex, making the presence of women notable.
- In modern contexts, specifying gender in this way is often unnecessary, as most institutions are coeducational. Therefore, the noun can sometimes carry an archaic or potentially reductive connotation.
Adjective
- attended by members of both sexes
Noun
- a female student at a coeducational college or university