callipygian

English

Venus Callipyge statue

Etymology

From Ancient Greek καλλίπυγος (kallípugos) + -ian, from κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + πυγή (pugḗ, “buttocks”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkæ.ləˈpɪ.d͡ʒi.ən/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkælɪˈpɪdʒi.ən/, /ˌkæliˈpɪdʒjən/, /ˌkæləˈpɪdʒi.ən/, /ˌkæləˈpɪdʒjən/

Adjective

callipygian (comparative more callipygian, superlative most callipygian)

1. Having beautifully shaped buttocks.
   • 1873, anonymous author, The Romance of Lust‎^[1], volume 1:

     […] we soon once more were in a state to renew our delicious combat; and a second course was run in the delightful callipygian recesses of Venus’s second temple of lubricity.

   • 1918, Frances Douglas, transl., Sónnica, Duffield & Company, translation of original by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, page 131:

     Suddenly the music grew fainter, as if drawing away, and the dancers, their feet together and limbs half opened, descended in a slow spiral, with gentle undulations, until they touched the floor; the instant their callipygian charms grazed the mosaic, they recoiled like suddenly awakened serpents, […]

   • 2006, Geoffrey Brock, transl., The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, translation of original by Umberto Eco, →ISBN, page 246:

     Her gown (perhaps as a result of the scorching winds coming off the ambas) clung damply to her body, clearly revealing her callipygian curves and the entire shapely length of her legs.

   • 2007, Ryan North, Dinosaur Comics, from the comic strip on May 22:

     [T-Rex:] My lovely visage, callipygian frame, startlingly awesome calves and charming smile will yet go down in history!

   • 2008 January 12, Conrad Black, “A nation seeking a hero”, in National Post, Canada:

     With trepidation, but not embarrassment, I offer the thought that Mrs. Obama, a formerly disadvantaged alumna of Princeton and Harvard, to judge from her well-strategized appearances on national television in exiguous dresses and trousers, is as callipygian as Jennifer Lopez.

2. Specifically, describing a statue (often of a goddess such as Aphrodite) in a pose that shows off the figure's shapely buttocks.

Synonyms

• (having beautiful buttocks): bootylicious, bumtastic, callipygous, rumpalicious

Related terms

• steatopygia
• steatopygous

Translations

having beautiful buttocks

• Dutch: kallipygisch (nl)
• Esperanto: belpuga (eo)
• Finnish: kaunispakarainen
• French: callipyge (fr)
• German: kallipygisch
• Greek: καλλίπυγος (el) m or f (kallípygos)

  Ancient: καλλίπυγος (kallípugos)

• Italian: callipige
• Polish: o kształtnych pośladkach
• Portuguese: calipígio (pt) m, calipígia (pt) f, popozudo (pt) m , popozuda (pt) f, bundudo (pt) m, bunduda f, rabudo (pt) m, rabuda f
• Sanskrit: नितम्बवत् (sa) m or f or n (nitambavat), सुनितम्बिनी (sa) f (sunitambinī), सुभसद् (sa) m or f or n (subhasad), सुश्रोणी (sa) f (suśroṇī), सुश्रोणि (sa) m or n (suśroṇi)
• Serbo-Croatian: лепогуза f
• Spanish: calipigio
• Volapük: jönaglüetik, (comparative) jönaglüetikum, (superlative) jönaglüetikün

See also

• natiform