ecdysiast

English

WOTD – 1 February 2008

Etymology

Coined by H. L. Mencken from ecdysis (“moulting”) (on the model of enthusiast etc.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛkˈdɪz.i.æst/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

ecdysiast (plural ecdysiasts)

1. (uncommon) An erotic dancer who removes their clothes as a form of entertainment; a stripper.
   • 1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 79:

     I had never seen an ecdysiast before; toward the end she was wearing nothing but seven beads, four of them sweat.

   • 2004, Chrysti the Wordsmith, Verbivore's Feast: A Banquet of Word and Phrase Origins, Farcountry Press, page 107:

     However, the Queen of Ecdysiasts, Gypsy Rose Lee, was not amused. In a 1940 interview, she leveled her guns against Mencken: "Ecdysiast, he calls me! Why, the man... has been reading books! Dictionaries! We don't wear feathers and molt them off... What does he know about stripping?"

Synonyms

• (dancer who removes their clothes): exotic dancer, stripper

Related terms

• ecdysis
• ecdysone
• striptease

Translations

stripper — see stripper