condom

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} A story from the early 18th century names the inventor as a physician, or a colonel, called Condon or Condom, but no such person has been traced.^[2][5][9][6] The OED finds a derivation from the town of Condom in south-western France formally possible, but without evidence.^[2] Spellings such as “condam” and “quondam”^[9] have suggested Latin quondam (“formerly”), which the OED thinks shows only the association of a new word with a familiar one.^[2] Another proposal is Italian guantone (“large glove, mitten”), from guanto (“glove”);^[9][2] the OED compares “Venus glove” as a possible 17th-century euphemism, but notes that this etymology has difficulties of form.^[2] William E. Kruck traced the word's history in a 1981 publication of the American Dialect Society.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sheath worn on the penis during sex: about 1706, in J. Hamilton's A Scots Answer to a British Vision.^[2][4][5][9]

Semantic evolution

The story of the inventor appears in print in 1708, in Almonds for Parrots, where a sheath made from gut is said to have been named after Condon, who found out its use; in 1724 Daniel Turner's Syphilis mentions a doctor printed as “C——n” among the candidates for the invention.^[2] Etymonline traces the story to 1709.^[9] In the 18th century the word was often printed with asterisks or dashes for some letters, to avoid a charge of obscenity.^[2] The original OED of about 1890 left it out, and in the United States it was not used openly in the mass media until Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's 1986 speech on AIDS prevention.^[9] The sheath worn inside the body, the female condom, is recorded from 1987.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1706 – a sheath worn on the penis as a contraceptive.^[2][4]
• 1708 – the story of an inventor named Condon.^[2]
• 1987 – a sheath worn in the vagina, the female condom.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thin sheath, usually of latex rubber, worn on the penis during sex as a contraceptive or to protect against sexually transmitted diseases.^[8][4][2]
2. A similar sheath worn inside the vagina, also called a female condom.^[4][2][7]

Related words

• quondam

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com