Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
phallus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
phallus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
phallus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
phallus you have here. The definition of the word
phallus will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
phallus, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Latin phallus (“membrum virile, phallus, or a figure thereof”) from Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós).
Pronunciation
Noun
phallus (plural phalli or phalluses)
- 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.
- A representation of an erect penis symbolising fertility or potency.
- (psychoanalysis) The signifier of the desire of the Other, and the signifier of jouissance.
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
the penis or its representation
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin phallus.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
phallus m (plural phallus)
- phallus
See also
References
Latin
Etymology
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
Noun
phallus m (genitive phallī); second declension
- (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
- (anatomy) phallus, membrum virile, penis
- (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
Second-declension noun.
Descendants
Further reading
- “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