Other forms: sexiest, sexier
Sexy means physically attractive in a way that stirs desire. Look sexy, a sexy dress, find him sexy.
It is informal and it is judged rather than measured — what counts as sexy varies with era and culture more than almost any other quality. It has spread far beyond bodies: a sexy idea, a sexy project, meaning exciting and fashionable, which is the sense that appears in business writing. Note sex plus -y.
1adjectivesexyPhysically attractive in a way that stirs desire.
“She wore a sexy red dress to the party.”
2adjectiveexcitingExciting and fashionable.
“Saving money isn't very sexy, but it's important.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
sexy is a quality of attractiveness.
Sex plus -y, coined in the early twentieth century as a play on the ending.
Proto-Indo-European
*sek-
Latin
sexus
Old French
sexe
Middle English
sexe
English
sex
English, today
sexy
Built from
From sex + -y. sex comes from Middle English sexe, from Old French sexe, from Latin sexus. From Middle English sexe (“sex [distinction between male and female] and gender”), from Old French sexe (“genitals; gender”), from Latin sexus (“gender; gender traits; males or females; genitals”), from Proto-Italic seksus, from Proto-Indo-European séksus, from sek- (“to cut, cut off, sever”), thus meaning "section, division" (into male and female). Displaced native Old English hād (“sex, gender”). Usage for women influenced by Middle French sexe (“women”) (attested in 1580). Usage for third and additional sexes calqued from French troisième sexe, referring to masculine women in 1817 and homosexuals in 1847. First used by Lord Byron and others in English in reference to Catholic clergy. Usage for sexual intercourse first attested in 1899 (in the writings of H. G. Wells).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA