Sexual Synonymity
by Jonathan Quince
Thursday, March 10, 2005 21:16:13
A Page from a Writer’s Notebook: The following lists are little more than a scratchpad of quick brainstorming. As such, be advised that words therein are grouped together without regard for connotation or nuance (or sometimes even definition). The below is not a substitute for a thesaurus. Wonders of vocabulary, as always, are dangrous to those not well versed in their nature.
With a few reasoned exceptions, words with strongly negative connotations have been excluded. Slang terminology is also mostly spurned in favor of bits more likely to be found useful for literature. Where confusion may arise, words without a strongly or directly sexual denotation or connotation are enclosed in brackets. Words in {curly braces} may often be euphamisms for highly undesirable attributes; exercise caution (or caution exercise) when using. Remember that many adjectives have suitable noun forms, vice versa, et cetera; some words are repeated in different contexts, but such transmutation is typically left as an exercise to the reader.
- Inspiring Adjectives: [affective,] amative, amorous, animal, [animating,] ardent, arousing, [bracing,] brazen, [byronic,] carnal, [celestial,] charming, concupiscent, [corporeal,] [delectable,] [delicious,] [delightful,] desirous, [emotional,] enthralling, [enticing,] erogenous, erotic, [exotic,] [exhilarating,] [expressive,] fecund, feracious, feral, fertile, [fervid,] [fiery,] fleshly, [fruitful,] [gratuitous,] [heavenly,] hetaeric, hungering, insatiable, insatiate, [invigorating,] [juicy,] kinky, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libertine, libidinous, licentious, loverly, lubricious, luscious, lustful, luxuriant, luxurious, orgasmic, orgiastic, paphian, passionate, [physical,] [pregnant (double entendre),] primal, prurient, pulchritudinous, [rapacious,] [rapturous,] [ravening,] risqué, salacious, sapphic, seductive, sensuous, sexual, [somatic,] spicy, [succulent,] sultry, stimulative, sybaritic, titillating, [tonic,] venereal, [vibrant,] [vigorous,] [virile,] voluptuary, voluptuous, wanton, whorish, wild, [worshipful,] [zealous]
- Divers Actions: aching, adoration, banging, begging, binding, biting, blooming, blushing, caressing, clasping, cleaving [both to and through], clenching, clutching, congress, coition, consuming, [cosseting,] coveting, craving, dalliance, dancing, [delectation,] desiring, digging, eating, embracing, engaging, enjoyment, enrapturement, entrancement, fellating, fingering, flowing, fondling, forcing, fucking, gazing, giggling, grabbing, grinding, groping, growling, harken/hearkening, hinting, hoping, hugging, imbibing, impregnating, inhaling, invading, kissing, knowing, lapping, laughing, laving, licking, longing, meeting, moaning, necking, needing, nestling, nibbling, nuzzling, oscillating, ogling, osculation, penetration, plunging, pulling, pulsating, pumping, quivering, ravishment, receiving, relishing, rubbing, ruffling, screaming, seduction, seizing, sighing, snuggling, sodomy, spanking, spreading, spurting, squeezing, squirting, stroking, sucking, suffusing, suggestion, swallowing, swaying, swirling, tasting, teasing, thrilling, throbbing, thrusting, tickling, tonguing, tormenting, torturing, touching, trysting, ululating, undulating, violating, wanting, winking, wishing, whimpering, whispering
- States of Matter: affinity, agony, appetence, arousal, attraction, boiling, breathiness, breathlessness, climax, conception, delirium, devotion, ecstasy, engorgement, enthrallment, erection, exaltation, excitement, flush, fluttering, frenzy, frustration, fusion, giddiness, glistening, glowing, hardness, haze, heat, heaving, horniness, hunger, ignition, intensity, lightning, lubrication, melting, nakedness, need, nudity, obsession, orgasm, passion, pining, poutiness, purity, quickening, rapture, release, shock, starburst, tingling, trance, transformation, transportment, tumescence, turgidity, union, vulnerability, worship
- Favorite Things: appetite, breath, cum, drive, ejaculate, electricity, energy, fantasy, fluid(s), juices, libations, libido, liquid, lust, scent, seed, semen, senses, sweat, taste, variety
- Characteristically Desirable: {ample,} beauteous, beautiful, busty, buxom, comely, curvaceous, curvesome, curvilinear, curvy, dainty, delicate, elegant, exquisite, fair, feminine, fresh, graceful, gracile, limber, lissome, lithe, pliant, shapely, sinuous, slender, slim, slinky, stacked, statuesque, supple, svelte, voluptuous, willowy, winsome, yielding, {zaftig}; august, brawny, dapper, debonair, handsome, macho, manly, masculine, muscular, robust, rock-hard, slick, smooth, steely, strong, suave, vigorous, virile, wiry; agile, athletic, charming, elegant, lively, lusty, majestic, noble, pulchritudinous, radiant, sexy, stately, witty
- In Need of Evangelical Lovingkindness: virginal vestal, ingenuous innocent, modest maiden, chaste cherry, delicate damsel, tremulous teen
- Persons of Due Inclination: coquette, dish, dominatrix, doxy, fellatrix, [female,] fuckstress, [girl,] lover, nymph, nymphomaniac, seductress, sensualist, siren, slut, sylph, temptress, vixen, voluptuary
- Persons of Professional Standing: academician, concubine, courtesan, ecdysiast, escort, fuckstress, gigolo, harlot, hetaera/hetaira, hooker, paphian, pornographer, prostitute, quean, stripper, whore, wife
- Sopef Quasi-Neologisms in Genesis: ancilla, domina… (more and more details at some other time.) Also, is there a proper way to “verbize” the action of “cunnilingus”? The verb “to fellate” needs a cuntal counterpart; and for that matter, so does the noun “fellator/fellatrix”. Latin linguists, speak forth!
Suggestions? Send them in. This page was started with a few quick jots off the top of my head, and I am adding bit by bit as words pop into my head; I expect these lists to continue in growth.
Random Notes: C.f. the respective etymologies of “concubine”, to lie down, vs. “prostitute”, to stand (approximately)… Ponder the etymological linkages between caress, care, and whore, also meretricious and merit… “profligate” and “promiscuous” were excluded for explicit emphases on carelessness and multiplicity, respectively; many other words have been excluded according to my editorial judgment; if you don’t like it, osculate with my fundament… Although it is a fun word colloquially, I exclude “naughty” herein since I care naught for nihilism… Glory in the juxtaposition of “celestial” and “carnal” right next to each other on the same list (and other odd combinations of seeming antonyms)… False cognate alert! c.f. “feral” vs. “feracious”… Acknowledgments: Thanks to CesiumSex and Freya for their delightful suggestions… Speling misteaks are solely the responsibility of the Quince involved… In light of the above-listed adjudgment, mayhap “uxorial” ought to be included on one or another of these lists.