Wiktionary

copulation

English

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

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

edit

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit

Anagrams

edit

French

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /kɔ.py.la.sjɔ̃/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: co‧pu‧la‧tion

Noun

edit

copulation f (plural copulations)

  1. copulation
edit

Further reading

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=copulation&oldid=84168253"