pornography

Etymology

Etymonline, Barnhart, Weekley and the American Heritage Dictionary take it as borrowed from French pornographie,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek πορνογράφος (pornográphos, “writing about prostitutes”),^[2][6][5] a Hellenistic Greek adjective^[6][7] formed from πόρνη (pórnē, “prostitute”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).^{[3][8][9][10]} The OED, revised in 2006, instead forms it from the Greek adjective and the suffix -y (compare -graphy), perhaps after the French word, which meant a treatise on prostitution in 1800 and an obscene painting in 1842;^[6] Merriam-Webster, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com also form it from the Greek with -y.^[11][9][12] The Greek noun meant originally "bought, purchased", probably of a female slave sold into prostitution, and is related to πέρνημι (pérnēmi, “to sell”);^[2][10][3] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to traffic in, to sell”), and Klein compares Latin pār (“equal”) and pretium (“price”).^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Obscene painting in the ancient world: 1842, in W. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities;^[6][2] Etymonline glosses the first use as ancient obscene painting, especially in temples of Bacchus.^[2] Barnhart's first record is later, 1857, in the sense of a description of prostitutes or prostitution.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word, literally "the depiction of prostitutes", was at first used mostly of Greek and Roman works:^[13] Webster's dictionary of 1864 defined it as licentious painting on the walls of rooms used for Bacchic orgies, as at Pompeii.^[13] Etymonline finds it applied to modern books by 1859, first to French novels and then as a charge against English writing,^[2] and Ayto dates its common use for contemporary books and magazines to the 1880s.^[13] Barnhart dates the general sense of obscene writings or pictures to 1864.^[3] In the later 19th century it was also used for the study of prostitution as a matter of public health (1857–95), a sense now obsolete.^[6][2] Etymonline dates the sense of obscene pictures in modern times to 1906.^[2] From 1956 the word was extended to the exciting depiction of other things, as in the pornography of violence.^[6] In informal use it is shortened to porn or porno.^[14]

Timeline

• 1800 – French pornographie, a treatise on prostitution.^[6]
• 1842 – obscene painting of the ancient world.^[6][2][11]
• 1857 – the study or description of prostitution (obsolete by 1895).^[6][3]
• 1859 – applied to modern novels.^[2]
• 1864 – obscene writings or pictures in general.^[3]
• 1880 – the adjective pornographic.^[3]
• 1906 – obscene pictures in modern times.^[2]
• 1956 – the pornography of violence.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Books, pictures, films and other material that show sexual activity explicitly in order to cause sexual excitement.^[14][11][6]
2. The making of such material.^[14]
3. The explicit depiction of something else, such as violence, in a way meant to excite or thrill.^[6]
4. (obsolete, 1857–1895) A description or study of prostitutes and prostitution.^[6][9]

Word family

• pornographer
• pornographically
• pornographic
• antipornography
• porn
• porny
• child pornography

Related words

• porno-
• -graphy
• graphic
• pair
• price

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 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. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins