Wiktionary

copulation

English

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Etymology

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From Middle French copulation, from Latin copulo (“I join, unite, connect”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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copulation (countable and uncountable, plural copulations)

  1. (countable) The act of coupling or joining; union; conjunction.
    • 2019, Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen, History and Applications, page 401:
      I quite correctly defined logical copulation by means [of] the copula of inclusion.
  2. (uncountable) Sexual procreation between a man and a woman or transfer of the sperm from male to female; usually applied to the mating process in nonhuman animals; coitus; coition.
    • c. 1909, Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, Letter VIII:
      Solomon, who was one of the Deity's favorities, had a copulation cabinet composed of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
    • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 30:
      In the dusky streets around me ruled an innocent and open copulation. The entire town mated together, in the leafy bowers that had sprung up among the washing-machines and television sets in the shopping mall, on the settees and divans by the furniture store, in the tropical paradises of the suburban gardens.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin cōpulātiōnem. By surface analysis, copuler +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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copulation f (plural copulations)

  1. copulation
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Further reading

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