Penis

The penis (plural penises or penes) or phallus (plural phalli) is the external male copulatory organ of some animals, and, in mammals, the external male organ of urination.

Linguistics

Etymology

The word is derived from the Latin word for the organ, "penis". The Latin word "phallus" (from the Greek "phallos") is sometimes used to describe the penis, though the word originally was used to describe images, pictoral or carved, of the penis http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=penis&searchmode=none.

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Some derive the Latin word penis from earlier *pesnis, and the Greek word peos = "penis" from earlier *pesos.

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Synonyms

For a far more exhaustive and multi-lingual thesaurus, see in

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In THIS subsection, we simply list a few semantic types and some examples, as these reveal a wide variety of attitudes :

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• Dingus, Thingy, Wang are euphemisms simply refusing to give any specifics about the particularly unmentionable
• Male rod or just rod, shaft etc. are in se just metonymy based on shape-resemblance, though euphemism and various connotations can also motivate their use
• The Latin Phallus (see also that article), itself from the Greek phallos, has a respectable, clinical ring to it, linked to its use in artistic and scientific jargons
• meat as well as (cleverer, for shape-fitting) weenie, wiener (both referring to a type of sausage) reduce it to the strictly biological anatomy
• dick (probably also alterated to dork) and johnson (both from common men's names), the rather anatomical Male member are euphemisms merely stating it to be particular to the male gender
• (boy-, man-)tool etc., weapon rather brutally refer to the sexual (ab)use,
• boner, pole, wood etc., even the poetical meter Ithyphallic specifically describe the erect (and most fertile) state
• terms like beef bayonet combine two of the above types
• etc.

Related words

• pencil, originally a diminutive (in the sense of 'little tail')