ejaculation

Etymology

It is formed from English ejaculate + -ion,^[2][3] as if from Latin *ēiaculātiō;^[4] the Shorter Oxford takes it instead from French éjaculation, from éjaculer.^[5] The verb, recorded from the 1570s, is from Latin ēiaculātus, the past participle of ēiaculor (“to throw out, shoot out”),^[6][4] from ex- (“out”) and iaculor (“to throw, hurl, dart”),^[6][4] from iaculum (“javelin, dart”),^[6][4] from iaciō (“to throw”), from Proto-Indo-European *ye- (“to throw, impel”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sudden emission of seed or fluids from an animal or plant, especially the discharge of semen: 1603, in P. Holland's translation of Plutarch.^[4][3] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600, of fluids.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Beside the bodily sense, the word was used from 1625 to 1818 for any hurling or spouting out, of missiles, water or stones thrown up from the earth,^[4] and figuratively for the sending out of rays or of an occult influence, as in Bacon's Essays (1625), which speak of "an ejaculation or irradiation of the eye" in envy.^[4][7] From 1624 an ejaculation was a short prayer "darted up to God", in Fuller's phrase, in a moment of need;^[4][6] from this it came to mean any short, hasty utterance of emotion.^[4][6] Johnson (1755) put the prayer first: "a short prayer darted out occasionally, without solemn retirement".^[7] The verb ejaculate followed the noun, meaning "to exclaim suddenly" from the 1660s.^[6] Modern dictionaries give the discharge of semen and the sudden exclamation as the two main senses.^[8][9][3]

Timeline

• 1603 – the sudden emission of seed or fluids from the body; especially the discharge of semen.^[4][3]
• 1624 – a short prayer uttered in an emergency; a short, hasty emotional utterance.^[4][6]
• 1625 – the hurling of missiles or spouting of water (obsolete by 1818).^[4]
• 1625 – figuratively, the emission of rays or of a magical influence.^[4]
• 1641 – the putting up of short prayers; the hasty uttering of words expressing emotion.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The discharge of semen, especially at orgasm.^[8][9][3][5]
2. Any sudden discharge of a fluid from a duct.^[9][3]
3. A short, sudden exclamation or emotional utterance: His ejaculation of surprise woke the dog.^[8][9][3]
4. A brief, urgent prayer.^[9][3][4]
5. (obsolete, 1625–1818) The act of throwing or darting out.^[4][7]

Word family

• premature ejaculation

Related words

• ejaculate
• ejaculator
• ejaculatory
• eject
• ejection
• jet
• project

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin