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dildo

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈdɪldəʊ/[1]
  • US: /ˈdɪldoʊ/[1]

Etymology

The word is of unknown origin.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Traditional guesses make it a corruption of Italian diletto (“delight”),[8][9] from Latin dilectio (“esteem, love”), from diligo (“to esteem highly, to love”), or of diddle.[9] Etymonline finds neither convincing, noting that Florio's Italian–English dictionary glosses many words with the English word, but not the word for delight.[9] Etymonline prefers the view of the Century Dictionary (1895), which took it for a term of obscure cant or slang origin, used in old ballads and plays as a mere refrain or nonsense word and, because of its vagueness, in place of various obscene terms.[9] The OED likewise records the refrain first, comparing nonny-nonny, and explains some early forms by the insertion of an extra alliterative syllable.[2] Etymonline also cites Middle English dillidoun (“a darling, a pet”) of the mid-15th century, which it derives from Old Norse dilla (“to lull”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a nonsense word in the refrains of songs, in 1590, in Greene's Neuer too Late.[2] As an object shaped like a penis, the OED's first record is from 1597, in G. Harvey's Trimming of Thomas Nashe;[2] Merriam-Webster dates that sense to 1598,[4] while Etymonline finds the earliest use, and probably the start of its popularity, in Nashe's poem "The Choise of Valentines", about 1593.[9]

Semantic evolution

Shakespeare's Winter's Tale (before 1616) speaks of dildos in the refrains of ballads, and the OED follows the refrain use until 1838.[2] From 1638, in Ford's Fancies, the word was a term of abuse for a boy or young man,[2][8] later for a stupid or inept person, a sense Green's Dictionary of Slang follows through American and British slang of the 20th and 21st centuries;[8][2] in Irish slang it has also been used for a promiscuous woman.[8] In 1688 it named a sausage-shaped curl hanging down from a wig,[2][4] while from 1672 it named several tall, column-like cacti of the Caribbean and South America, perhaps because of the phallic shape of their columns.[2][5] In 1698 it was used of the image of a phallus venerated in some religions.[2] Grose's slang dictionary (1785) described it as an implement resembling the male member, used by those obliged to celibacy or fearful of pregnancy.[8] Etymonline notes that the thing itself is far older than the word: the Latin name was fascinum, the source of fascinate, while from 1879 English sometimes used French godemiché.[9]

Timeline

  • 1590 – nonsense syllables in the refrain of a song.[2]
  • c. 1593 – Nashe's "The Choise of Valentines".[9]
  • 1597 – an object shaped like an erect penis.[2]
  • before 1616 – Shakespeare, the refrain of a ballad.[2]
  • 1638 – a term of abuse for a boy or young man.[2][8]
  • 1672 – a tall, column-like cactus.[2]
  • 1688 – a sausage curl on a wig.[2]
  • 1698 – a phallus as a religious image.[2]
  • 1785 – defined in Grose's slang dictionary.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An object shaped like an erect penis, used for sexual stimulation.[7][4][2]
  2. (slang) A stupid, inept or contemptible person: Only a complete dildo would park there.[8][2][5]
  3. Any of several tall, ribbed cacti of the West Indies and South America; also dildo tree.[5][4][2]
  4. (rare) A sausage-shaped curl hanging down from a wig.[4][2]
  5. (obsolete, 1590–1838) Nonsense syllables sung in the refrain of a song.[4][2][5]
  • diddle

Usage notes

Collins also gives the spelling dildoe, with the plural dildos or dildoes.[7]

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 p q r s t u v 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 f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com