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English
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
Noun
tallywhacker (plural tallywhackers)
- (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.