phallus
See also: Phallus
English
Etymology
From Latin phallus (“membrum virile, phallus, or a figure thereof”) from Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfæləs/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -æləs
Noun
phallus (plural phalli or phalluses)
- A penis, especially when erect.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 159:
- The phallus had power to subdue the attacks of demons and the Evil Eye[.]
- 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 129:
- If the priests of Diana of Ephesus castrated themselves and offered their genitals on the altar, it was because the phallus was the symbol of the dying body.
-
- A representation of an erect penis symbolising fertility or potency.
- (ornithology) A similar erectile sexual organ present in the cloacas of male ratites.
- (psychoanalysis) The signifier of the desire of the Other, and the signifier of jouissance.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:penis
Coordinate terms
- yoni
Derived terms
Derived terms
- phallectomy
- phallic
- phallically
- phallicism
- phallobase
- phallocentric
- phallocentrism
- phallocracy
- phallocrat
- phallocratic
- phallogocentric
- phallogocentrism
- phalloidin, phalloidine
- phallological
- phallologist
- phallologocentric
- phallologocentrism
- phallology
- phallolysin
- phallometric
- phallometry
- phalloplasty
- phallostethid
- phallotomy
- phallotoxin
- phallused
Related terms
- ithyphallic
- lingam
Translations
the penis or its representation
|
penis — see penis
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin phallus.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fa.lys/[2]
Audio (file)
Noun
phallus m (plural phallus)
- phallus
Related terms
- phallique
See also
- pénis
References
- “phallus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “phallus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “membrum virile, phallus, or a figure thereof”), likely ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”); compare follis (“sack”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpʰal.lus/, [ˈpʰälːʲʊs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈfal.lus/, [ˈfälːus]
Noun
phallus m (genitive phallī); second declension
- (mythology, religion) an iconic phallic figure of the male member borne in cult processions at a Dionysian orgy or festival of Bacchus as a symbol of the generative power of nature
- (anatomy) phallus, membrum virile, penis
- (figurative, art) phallus; an artistic image of the membrum virile or other figurative representation of the erect penis as an icon representing male sexuality, potency, fertility
Declension
Second-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | phallus | phallī |
| Genitive | phallī | phallōrum |
| Dative | phallō | phallīs |
| Accusative | phallum | phallōs |
| Ablative | phallō | phallīs |
| Vocative | phalle | phallī |
Related terms
- ithyphallicus
- phallicus
- Triphallus
Descendants
- Asturian: falu
- Catalan: fal·lus
- → Czech: falus
- → Dutch: fallus
- → English: phallus
- → French: phallus
- Galician: falo
- → German: Phallus
- Italian: fallo
- → Occitan: fallus
- → Polish: fallus
- → Portuguese: falo
- Romanian: falus (possibly via French)
- → Russian: фа́ллус (fállus), фалл (fall)
- → Serbo-Croatian: falus, фалус
- Sicilian: fallu
- Spanish: falo
- → Turkish: fallus
Further reading
- “phallus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- phallus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1171
- phallus in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, volume 2, 8th edition, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 1680