Etymologically
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masturbation

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌmæstəˈbeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌmɑːstəˈbeɪʃ(ə)n/[1]
  • US: /ˌmæstɚˈbeɪʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French masturbation,[2] which the OED finds about 1590 in Montaigne's essays,[2] and probably also directly borrowed from New Latin masturbatio,[3][4][5] a noun of action from masturbātus, the past participle of Latin masturbor (“to masturbate”).[3][6][5] The Latin verb, used by Martial, is of disputed origin.[2] The most widely accepted explanation derives it from manus (“hand”) and stuprō (“to defile”), remodelled after turbō (“to disturb”);[2][6][7][3] stuprō comes from stuprum (“defilement, dishonour”).[3][6] The OED also mentions an unattested first element meaning "penis".[3] The English forms mastupration (1621, in Burton's “Anatomy of Melancholy”) and mastuprate (1623) are variants shaped after that explanation;[4][3][2] the OED's evidence suggests that masturbation replaced mastupration as the usual term in the early 18th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual pleasure: 1603, in the form maisterbation, in John Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays;[2] the OED suggests that this form was perhaps remodelled after maister, a variant of master.[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1711 and Barnhart to 1766, in A. Hume's Onanism.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that an earlier technical word for the act was onanism.[3] The OED records a figurative use from 1820, in a letter of Byron's.[2] The verb masturbate is a back-formation from the noun, or comes from the Latin past participle;[3][7] Etymonline dates it to 1839 and Barnhart to 1857.[3][4] Its transitive use, of masturbating another person, is recorded by 1970.[3] The phrase mutual masturbation denotes two people stimulating each other's genitals.[8]

Timeline

  • 1603 – maisterbation, in Florio's Montaigne.[2]
  • 1621 – the earlier form mastupration.[4][3]
  • 1711 – the form masturbation in Etymonline.[3]
  • 1766 – in A. Hume's Onanism.[4]
  • 1820 – figurative use.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The stimulation of one's own genitals, usually by hand, for sexual pleasure, often to orgasm.[2][5][8]
  2. The stimulation of another person's genitals by hand.[2][8]
  3. (figurative) Self-indulgent activity that gratifies only the doer.[2]

Word family

  • masturbational
  • masturbator

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press