Wiktionary

phallus

See also: Phallus

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Latin phallus (“membrum virile, phallus, or a figure thereof”) from Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

phallus (plural phalli or phalluses)

  1. A penis, especially when erect.
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 159:
      The phallus had power to subdue the attacks of demons and the Evil Eye[.]
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 129:
      If the priests of Diana of Ephesus castrated themselves and offered their genitals on the altar, it was because the phallus was the symbol of the dying body.
  2. A representation of an erect penis symbolising fertility or potency.
  3. (psychoanalysis) The signifier of the desire of the Other, and the signifier of jouissance.

Synonyms

edit

Coordinate terms

edit

Derived terms

edit
Derived terms
edit

Translations

edit
penis — see penis

French

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin phallus.[1]

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

phallus m (plural phallus)

  1. phallus
edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ “phallus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
  2. ^ “phallus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

edit

Etymology

edit

From Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “membrum virile, phallus, or a figure thereof”), likely ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”); compare follis (“sack”).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

phallus m (genitive phallī); second declension

  1. (mythology, religion) an iconic phallic figure of the male member borne in cult processions at a Dionysian orgy or festival of Bacchus as a symbol of the generative power of nature
  2. (anatomy) phallus, membrum virile, penis
  3. (figurative, art) phallus; an artistic image of the membrum virile or other figurative representation of the erect penis as an icon representing male sexuality, potency, fertility

Declension

edit

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative phallus phallī
Genitive phallī phallōrum
Dative phallō phallīs
Accusative phallum phallōs
Ablative phallō phallīs
Vocative phalle phallī
edit

Descendants

edit

Further reading

edit
  • “phallus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • phallus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1171.
  • phallus in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 1680
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=phallus&oldid=80133130"