Wiktionary

phallus

See also: Phallus

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Derived terms
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Translations

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin phallus.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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phallus m (plural phallus)

  1. phallus
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See also

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References

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  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

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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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

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Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative phallus phallī
genitive phallī phallōrum
dative phallō phallīs
accusative phallum phallōs
ablative phallō phallīs
vocative phalle phallī
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Descendants

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Further reading

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  • “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
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