Ungeschlechtliche

Ungeschlechtliche is the attributive form of the German adjective ungeschlechtlich, meaning not sexual or without sex/gender differentiation. The term is most commonly used in biology to describe processes or organisms that reproduce without involving male or female partners, i.e., asexual reproduction. Examples include ungeschlechtliche Fortpflanzung in plants, fungi, and some animals, where offspring arise by mitosis, budding, fragmentation, or similar mechanisms.

In German grammar, ungeschlechtlich follows standard adjective declension. When used attributively before a feminine noun in the singular, it takes the ending -e, as in die ungeschlechtliche Fortpflanzung. The ending varies with gender, number, and case: der ungeschlechtliche Prozess (masculine nominative), das ungeschlechtliche Merkmal (neuter nominative), die ungeschlechtlichen Eigenschaften (feminine plural), etc. The form ungeschlechtliche can thus appear in various inflected patterns depending on the surrounding article and noun.

Beyond biology, the term can describe things or concepts that lack sexual characteristics or differentiation, but it is rarely applied to people. In discussions about human sexuality and gender, more common terms are asexual or gender-neutral descriptors rather than ungeschlechtlich. The word also appears in scientific and philosophical contexts to denote absence of sexual reproduction or sex-based differentiation in theoretical models.

See also: asexual reproduction; sexual (opposite).