penetration

See also: pénétration

English

Etymology

From Middle English penetracioun, from Old French penetracïon, and its source, Latin penetrātiō, from the participle stem of penetrō (“pierce”, verb). Morphologically penetrate +‎ -ion

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɛnɪˈtɹeɪʃ(ə)n/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

penetration (countable and uncountable, plural penetrations)

1. The act of penetrating something. [from 15th c.]

   Any penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.

2. Specifically, the insertion of the penis (or similar object) during sexual intercourse. [from 17th c.]
3. The act of penetrating a given situation with the mind or faculties; perception, discernment. [from 17th c.]
   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], Rob Roy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 82790126:

     my observations of her looks and actions became acutely sharpened, and that to a degree which, notwithstanding my efforts to conceal it, could not escape her penetration.

4. (blackjack) A number or fraction that represents how many cards/decks will be dealt before shuffling, in contrast to the total number of cards/decks in play.
5. (marketing) The proportion of the target audience who buy the advertised product or service.

Derived terms

• double penetration
• interpenetration
• nonpenetration
• overpenetration
• penetration test
• prepenetration
• repenetration

 

Translations

act of penetrating

• Bulgarian: прони́кване (bg) n (proníkvane)
• Catalan: penetració (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 滲透 (zh), 渗透 (zh) (shèntòu)

• Esperanto: penetro
• Finnish: läpäisy, lävistys (fi)
• French: pénétration (fr) f
• Galician: penetración (gl) f
• German: Penetration (de) f
• Greek: διείσδυση (el) f (dieísdysi)
• Hungarian: behatolás (hu)
• Indonesian: penetrasi (id)
• Italian: penetrazione (it)
• Japanese: 浸透 (ja) (しんとう, shintō), 貫通 (ja) (かんつう, kantsū)
• Latin: penetratio
• Polish: penetracja (pl) f
• Portuguese: penetração (pt) f
• Russian: проника́ние (ru) n (pronikánije), проникнове́ние (ru) n (proniknovénije)
• Spanish: penetración (es) f
• Swedish: genomträngning