雌雄异体是指当一种生物有独立的单一性别个体，一个个体上只有一个性别。确切的定义在动物、植物和真菌中略有不同。

在动物中，与雌雄异体相对的是雌雄同体，即一个个体有两个性别。雌雄异体有时也用来指群落，如管水母，这类生物有的是一株群落只有一个性别的个体，有的是一株群落有两个性别的个体，若将群落视为一个单位，也可以说前者是雌雄异体。

大多数的动物，包括人类，是雌雄异体。在少数的情况下，雌雄异体的物种会出现雌雄同体的情况，例如双性人。

Monoicous plants are those species that bear both sperm and eggs on the same gametophyte. Dioicous plants are those that have gametophytes that produce only sperm or eggs but never both. The terms are used largely but not exclusively in the context of bryophytes. Both monoicous and dioicous gametophytes produce gametes in gametangia by mitosis rather than meiosis, so that sperm and eggs are genetically identical with their parent gametophyte. The states of being monoicous or dioicous are called monoicy and dioicy respectively.