promiscuous

promiscuous

English

WOTD – 16 May 2011

Etymology

From Latin prōmiscuus (“mixed, not separated”), from prō (“forth”) + misceō (“mix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/

• Audio (AU)

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Adjective

promiscuous (comparative more promiscuous, superlative most promiscuous)

1. Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.

   Synonym: motley

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 379-80:

     Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, / While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof.

   • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter I, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 948783829, book I, page 4:

     [T]hey had both been educated [...] on plans at once narrow and promiscuous, first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne, their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition.

2. Made without careful choice; indiscriminate.

   A sail caught by a promiscuous wind.

3. (derogatory) Having many sexual partners, especially if indiscriminate in choosing said sexual partners.
4. (networking) The mode in which an NIC gathers all network traffic instead of getting only the traffic intended for it.

Derived terms

• promiscuity
• promiscuousness

Translations

made up of various disparate elements mixed together

Bulgarian: разнороден (bg) (raznoroden) Catalan: promiscu (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 混雜嘅 (wan6 zaap6 ge3) Finnish: sekalainen (fi) Galician: promiscuo m German: zusammengewürfelt (de), bunt gemischt Macedonian: разно́роден (raznóroden) Occitan: variat (oc), mesclat Russian: разношёрстный (ru) (raznošórstnyj), разноро́дный (ru) (raznoródnyj) Slovak: promiskuitný Spanish: promiscuo (es) Turkish: gelişigüzel (tr), karışık (tr), rastgele (tr)

made without careful choice; indiscriminate

Bulgarian: безразборен (bg) (bezrazboren) Catalan: promiscu (ca) Danish: promiskuøs (da) Finnish: umpimähkäinen (fi), summittainen (fi) German: wahllos (de), willkürlich (de), unüberlegt (de) Latin: promiscuus Macedonian: безра́зборен (bezrázboren), непро́мислен (neprómislen) Russian: неразбо́рчивый (ru) (nerazbórčivyj) Slovak: promiskuitný Spanish: promiscuo (es) Turkish: keyfî (tr)

indiscriminate in choice of sexual partners

Bulgarian: разпуснат (bg) (razpusnat) Catalan: promiscu (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 濫交嘅 (laam5 gaau1 ge3) Danish: promiskuøs (da) Dutch: promiscue (nl) Finnish: kevytkenkäinen (fi) (of a woman) Galician: promiscuo m German: freizügig (de), sexuell freizügig, promiskuitiv (de) (technical) Icelandic: lauslátur (is) Irish: ilchaidreamhach Jarai: rih Macedonian: ра́спуштен (ráspušten), промискуите́тен (promiskuitéten) Maori: tarau makere (of a woman), ure paratī (of a man), tīweka Polish: rozwiązły (pl), rozpustny (pl) Portuguese: promíscuo (pt) Russian: неразбо́рчивый (ru) (nerazbórčivyj), распу́тный (ru) (raspútnyj), распу́щенный (ru) (raspúščennyj) Slovak: promiskuitný Spanish: promiscuo (es) Swedish: promiskuös (sv) Tagalog: handalapak Thai: ร่าน (th) (râan) Turkish: herkesle yatan

being in a mode in which a NIC gathers all network traffic

Finnish: erottelematon, valikoimaton (fi) French: please add this translation if you can Occitan: mesclat Polish: nasłuchujący Slovak: promiskuitný

See also

• Thesaurus:promiscuous man
• Thesaurus:promiscuous woman

Further reading

• promiscuous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• promiscuous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• promiscuous at OneLook Dictionary Search