tallywhacker

English

Alternative forms

• tallywacker

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from tally (“mate, counterpart”), from Middle English taly (“a tally stick”), from Anglo-Norman tallie, Old French taillee, taillie, from Medieval Latin tallia, talia, taillia, from Latin talea (“stick, twig”), or alternatively from tail, + wag, likely influenced by whack, +‎ -er. Compare tallywag, an eighteenth century dialect term meaning “penis”. Attested as tallywhacker or tallywacker since the twentieth century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæliˌ(h)wækɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

tallywhacker (plural tallywhackers)

1. (slang) penis

References

• “tallywag; occ. tarriwag”, in Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang, 2006.
• “tallywhacker”, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language fifth edition, 2016.