In biology, a hermaphrodite is a living thing that has both male and female sexual parts in one body. Many flowering plants are like this: one flower can make pollen and also receive it. Some animals are too — earthworms, snails, certain fish. Having both parts does not always mean the animal fertilises itself; many still pair with another of the same kind. The word comes from a Greek story: Hermaphroditus, child of Hermes and Aphrodite, whose body joined with a water-nymph’s, so the name carries both parents. Used of plants and animals, it is a straight science word. Used of people, it is old medical language, and many people now find it harsh or unkind; when we talk about humans, Taiwanese students will more often meet 雙性人 or 間性人 (in English, intersex). A careful teacher keeps hermaphrodite for biology class, and chooses the human words when the subject is a person. It can be a noun (an earthworm is a hermaphrodite) or, less often, an adjective (a hermaphrodite flower).