pubes
English
Etymology 1
From Latin pubes (“the hair which appears on the body at the age of puberty, the genitals”), from pubes, puber (“grown up, of mature age; of plants, downy, pubescent”); see puberty.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pjuːbiz/
- Rhymes: -uːbiz
Noun
pubes
- plural of pubis; pubic bones.
- (plural only) The pubic hair.
- (plural only) The pubic region.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpjuːbz/
- Rhymes: -uːbz
Noun
pubes
- plural of pube
Usage notes
It is not uncommon today for even educated people to be familiar with the back-formed sense of pubes and its singular, pube, while being unaware of the original sense, declension, and etymology. Whereas the original sense occurs mostly in medical English rather than lay English, the newer sense is widely encountered in casual online culture, despite that it is informal enough not to be used in formal-register lay vocabulary.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:pubic hair
Related terms
- puberty
- pubic
Further reading
- pubes in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- pubes in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- EPUBs, epubs
Galician
Noun
pubes
- plural of pube (pubic bones)
Noun
pubes
- plural of pube (crab lice)
Latin
Etymology 1
Possible connection with puer, pūpa, pūsus, putus.
Alternative forms
- pūber
- pūbis
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpuː.bes/, [ˈpuː.bɛs]
Adjective
pūbes (genitive pūberis); third declension
- adult
- pubescent
- ripe
- downy (of plants)
Inflection
Third declension, non-i-stem (genitive plural in -um).
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | Masc./Fem. | Neuter | |
| Nominative | pūbes | pūbes | pūberēs | pūbera | |
| Genitive | pūberis | pūberis | pūberum | pūberum | |
| Dative | pūberī | pūberī | pūberibus | pūberibus | |
| Accusative | pūberem | pūbes | pūberēs | pūbera | |
| Ablative | pūbere | pūbere | pūberibus | pūberibus | |
| Vocative | pūbes | pūbes | pūberēs | pūbera | |
Derived terms
- pūbertas
- pūbēscō
Descendants
- Portuguese: púbere
Etymology 2
From pūbes (“adult”).
Noun
pūbes f (genitive pūbis); third declension
- youth
- youthfulness
- pubic hair
Inflection
Third declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | pūbes | pūbēs |
| Genitive | pūbis | pūbum |
| Dative | pūbī | pūbibus |
| Accusative | pūbem | pūbēs |
| Ablative | pūbe | pūbibus |
| Vocative | pūbes | pūbēs |
Descendants
- Portuguese: pube, pubes, púbis
References
- pubes1 in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- pubes2 in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- pubes in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pubes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- pubes in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pubes in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin