Etymologically
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pornography

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /pɔːˈnɒɡ.ɹə.fi/[1]
  • US: /pɔɹˈnɑ.ɡɹə.fi/[1]

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

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