co-educational

IPA/ˌkəʊ edʒuˈkeɪʃənl/
IPA/ˌkəʊ edʒuˈkeɪʃənl/

co-educational — adjective

1. Used to describe a school, college, or class where boys and girls study side by

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

Used to describe a school, college, or class where boys and girls study side by side, rather than in separate buildings or rooms.

Example

Ritu was the first girl in her family to attend a co-educational secondary school.

before noun: co-educational + school noun

After two centuries as a boys-only college, the institution finally became co-educational in 1972.

after verb: become co-educational

Common collocations
  • co-educational school
  • co-educational college
  • co-educational class
  • become co-educational
  • co-educational institution
Synonyms
  • mixed

    shorter and more everyday; 'a mixed school' means the same in British English

  • coed

    informal American shortening; common in speech but rarely used in official documents

Antonyms
  • single-sex

    boys and girls taught in separate institutions

  • all-boys

    for schools that admit only male students

  • all-girls

    for schools that admit only female students

Grammar Patterns

co-educational + school noun

Usage Note

Most common before nouns naming places of study (school, college, academy, class). The shorter informal spelling 'coed' is common in American English; 'co-educational' itself is more formal and slightly more British.

Common Mistakes

My brother is co-educational.
My brother goes to a co-educational school.
the word describes the institution, not a person.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

These four labels describe how a school groups its students by gender. 'Co-educational' is the formal, full-length adjective preferred in policy documents and prospectuses. 'Mixed' is the everyday British alternative — 'a mixed school' is the term parents and pupils actually use in speech. 'Coed' is the informal American shortening, very common in conversation and college brochures but unusual in formal British writing. 'Single-sex' is the direct opposite: it covers all-boys and all-girls schools alike. So a school might advertise itself as 'co-educational' on its website, be called 'mixed' by local parents, described as 'coed' by an American visitor, and contrasted with the 'single-sex' grammar school down the road.

co-educational ↗mixed ↗coed ↗single-sex ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • co-educational school
  • co-educational college
  • co-educational class
  • co-educational institution
  • co-educational academy

Adverbs

  • fully co-educational
  • newly co-educational

Phrases

  • become co-educational
  • go co-educational

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Built from the prefix 'co-' (together) plus the adjective 'educational'. The noun 'co-education' was coined in mid-19th-century American writing on schooling, when reformers debated whether boys and girls should sit in the same classroom. The adjective 'co-educational' followed soon after and entered British use by the 1880s, spreading as more universities and grammar schools opened their doors to both sexes.