phallus

See also: Phallus

English

Alternative forms

• phallos

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfæləs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æləs

Noun

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

• See also Thesaurus:penis

Coordinate terms

• yoni

Derived terms

Derived terms

• phallectomy
• phallic
• phallically
• phallicism
• phallobase
• phallocentric
• phallocentrism
• phallocracy
• phallocrat
• phallocratic
• phallogocentric
• phallogocentrism
• phalloidin, phalloidine
• phallological
• phallologist
• phallologocentric
• phallologocentrism
• phallology
• phallolysin
• phallometric
• phallometry
• phalloplasty
• phallostethid
• phallotomy
• phallotoxin
• phallused
• primordial phallus

Related terms

• ithyphallic
• lingam

Translations

the penis or its representation

• Arabic: فَالُوس m (fālūs), فَالُوس m (falus)
• Asturian: falu (ast) m
• Balinese: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: фалос m (falos)
• Catalan: fal·lus (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 菲勒斯 (fēilèsī)

• Czech: falus m
• Esperanto: faluso
• Finnish: fallos (fi)
• French: phallus (fr) m
• Galician: falo m
• German: Phallus (de) m
• Greek: φαλλός (el) m (fallós)
• Hebrew: פאלוס m (falus)
• Hindi: लिंग (hi) m (liṅg)
• Hungarian: fallosz (hu), hímvessző (hu)
• Icelandic: reður m
• Indonesian: lingga (id)
• Italian: fallo (it) m
• Japanese: ファルス (farusu)
• Korean: 팔루스 (palluseu)
• Latin: phallus m
• Marathi: शिशी (śiśī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fallos (no) m

  Nynorsk: fallos (no) m

• Occitan: fallus m
• Persian: کیر (fa) (kir)
• Plautdietsch: Pischat m, Maunsjlett n
• Polish: fallus (pl) m
• Portuguese: falo (pt) m
• Romanian: falus n
• Russian: фа́ллос (ru) m (fállos), фа́ллус (ru) m (fállus), фалл (ru) m (fall)
• Sanskrit: पसस् (sa) n (pasas), शिश्न (sa) n (śiśná), शेपस् (sa) n (śepas)
• Spanish: falo (es) m
• Swedish: fallos (sv) c
• Telugu: లింగము (te) (liṅgamu)

penis — see penis

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin phallus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.lys/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

phallus m (plural phallus)

1. phallus

Related terms

• phallique

See also

• pénis

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

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰal.lus/, [ˈpʰälːʲʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfal.lus/, [ˈfälːus]

Noun

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

Second-declension noun.

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

Related terms

• ithyphallicus
• phallicus
• Triphallus

Descendants

• Asturian: falu
• Catalan: fal·lus
• → Czech: falus
• → Dutch: fallus
• → English: phallus
• → French: phallus
• Galician: falo
• → German: Phallus
• Italian: fallo
• → Occitan: fallus
• → Polish: fallus
• → Portuguese: falo
• Romanian: falus (possibly via French)
• → Russian: фа́ллус (fállus), фалл (fall)
• → Serbo-Croatian: falus, фалус
• Sicilian: fallu
• Spanish: falo
• → Turkish: fallus

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