Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Orgasm
/ˈɔːrɡæzəm/noun
The climax of sexual excitement.
The Greek roots
ὀργασμός
orgasmós
swelling, excitement
ὀργάω
orgáō
to swell, be in heat
Literally: “a swelling to ripeness”
The story of the word
The Greek verb was agricultural before it was anything else: fruit ὀργᾷ when it swells ripe, and animals ὀργῶσι when they are in season. English borrowed the noun in the 1680s for violent excitement of any kind, and writers well into the nineteenth century could describe a mob in an orgasm of rage without a raised eyebrow. The narrowing to the sexual sense is late and total.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 1680s
In a sentence
The survey questions about orgasm were the ones most often left blank.