copulation

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɒp.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

copulation (countable and uncountable, plural copulations)

1. (countable) The act of coupling or joining; union; conjunction.
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.
   • ca.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

• See also Thesaurus:copulation

Derived terms

• Russian copulation

Translations

the act of joining

• Bulgarian: свързване (bg) n (svǎrzvane)
• Finnish: liittäminen (fi), liittyminen (fi), yhdistäminen (fi), yhdistyminen (fi), yhtyminen (fi), koplaus
• Georgian: შეერთება (šeerteba), გაერთიანება (gaertianeba)
• German: Verbindung (de) f
• Malay: kopulasi
• Portuguese: acoplagem f, acoplamento (pt) m, cópula (pt) m, junção (pt) f, ligação (pt) f, união (pt) f
• Romanian: unire (ro) f, împerechere (ro) f
• Russian: соедине́ние (ru) n (sojedinénije)

the coming together of male and female in sexual intercourse

• Arabic: مُضَاجَعَة‎ f (muḍājaʕa), جِمَاع‎ m (jimāʕ)
• Bulgarian: съвкупление n (sǎvkuplenie)
• Dutch: copulatie (nl) f
• Estonian: paaritumine, kopulatsioon
• Finnish: parittelu (fi)
• French: copulation (fr) f
• Georgian: სქესობრივი აქტი (skesobrivi akṭi), კოპულაცია (ḳoṗulacia), კოიტუსი (ḳoiṭusi), შეწყვილება (šec̣q̇vileba) (for animals)
• German: Koitus (de) m, Kopulation (de) f, Beischlaf (de) m, Akt (de) m, Begattung (de) f, Paarung f, Kohabitation (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: συνουσία f (sunousía), μίξις f (míxis)

• Indonesian: kopulasi (id)
• Japanese: 性交 (ja) (せいこう, seikō)
• Lithuanian: dauginimasis m
• Malay: kopulasi
• Polish: kopulacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: coito (pt) m, cópula (pt) f
• Romanian: copulație (ro) f, împerechere (ro)
• Russian: сноше́ние (ru) n (snošénije), совокупле́ние (ru) n (sovokuplénije), копуля́ция (ru) f (kopuljácija), ко́итус (ru) m (kóitus)
• Slovak: kopulácia, párenie
• Spanish: coito (es) m, copulación f
• Tagalog: pagtatalik
• Telugu: రతి (te) (rati)
• Volapük: koit (vo)

Anagrams

• poculation

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōpulātiōnem. Synchronically analyzable as copuler +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.py.la.sjɔ̃/

Noun

copulation f (plural copulations)

1. copulation

Related terms

• copulateur
• copulatif
• copuler

Further reading

• “copulation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.