Etymologically
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erotic

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪˈɹɒtɪk/[1]
  • US: /ɪˈɹɑtɪk/, /əˈɹɑtɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French érotique,[2][3][4][5][6] from Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός (erōtikós, “caused by love, relating to love”),[2][7][6] formed on ἔρως (érōs, “sexual love”), with the suffix that became -ic.[8][2][3][6] The OED takes it directly from the Greek adjective, comparing the French word.[8] The Greek noun is related to the verb ἐράω (eráō, “to love, desire”),[3][7] which is of uncertain origin.[7][3] The same noun was personified as Eros, the god of love.[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to sexual love, amatory: 1651 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,[3][6] the 1650s in Etymonline;[2] the OED's first quotation is from 1668.[8] The longer form erotical is earlier, from the 1620s.[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories explains that the love Eros stood for in early Greek art and literature was frankly sexual, which gave the adjective its meaning; only later did the god become the winged child of Roman and Valentine imagery.[9] The early English uses describe writing and feeling concerned with love;[8][11] the stronger sense, tending to arouse sexual desire, is the main one in modern dictionaries.[6][12][11] As a noun the word meant an erotic poem from 1858, and later, from 1872, a doctrine or science of love, after Greek nouns in -ikē (art).[8][11] The plural erotica, literature or art meant to arouse sexual desire, is a borrowing of the Greek neuter plural, recorded from 1854.[3]

Timeline

  • 1620s – erotical.[2]
  • 1651 – erotic, relating to sexual love.[3][6]
  • 1668 – the OED's first quotation.[8]
  • 1854 – erotica.[3]
  • 1858 – noun, an erotic poem.[8]
  • 1872 – noun, a doctrine of love.[8]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Relating to, showing or arousing sexual desire: an erotic novel.
  2. Having or easily stirred by strong sexual desire.

Noun

  1. A person with strong sexual desires.
  2. (rare) A doctrine or theory of love.

Word family

  • erotically
  • antierotic
  • autoerotic
  • homoerotic
  • nonerotic
  • pseudoerotic
  • unerotic
  • erotica
  • eroticize
  • eroticism
  • erotomania
  • Eros
  • erogenous

Usage notes

Dictionary.com lists erotic among words easily confused with erratic and exotic.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House