Word.ws English Dictionary

mating mark

mating mark noun: a lasting mark or wound sustained during copulation in certain species.

Noun

mating mark (plural mating marks)

  1. (rare) A lasting mark or wound sustained during copulation in certain species.
    • The male crab observed in this study did not have mating marks prior to picking up the female.1966, Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, volume 23, numbers 7-2, page 1323
    • Dependable indicators of female mating activity have been revealed, but mating activity of males has only been indirectly inferred through examination of so-called “mating marks”, presumably created during the premating embrace between a male and female.2006, Justin C. Ainsworth, "An evaluation of the use of mating marks as an indicator of mating success in male Dungeness crabs", thesis submitted to Humboldt State University, page iii
  2. In speculative erotica, a scar or mark on a person's body signifying their permanent bond to another, typically the result of a bite.
    • Especially not after seeing a mating mark on Wilder's shoulder.2017, Rosa Swan, My Mate's Mark, unnumbered page
    • As romance novels often end with a marriage, ABO fics will often end with the mating mark.2019, Tessa Barone, "Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fandom's Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe", thesis submitted to Oregon State University, page 10

Examples of mating mark in a sentence

  • Observations of female White Sharks with relatively recent mating marks are rare in CC [Central California].2012, Michael L. Domeier, Global Perspectives on the Biology and Life History of the White Shark, page 165:
  • He wore no mating mark on his neck, but he often referred to us as his “pack.”2019, Kallie Traylor, Divided We Fall, unnumbered page:

Synonyms of mating mark

Forms of mating mark

pluralmating marks

Questions about mating mark

What does mating mark mean?
Mating mark means a lasting mark or wound sustained during copulation in certain species.
How do you use mating mark in a sentence?
Observations of female White Sharks with relatively recent mating marks are rare in CC [Central California].
What part of speech is mating mark?
Mating mark is a noun.
What is the plural of mating mark?
The plural of mating mark is mating marks.

Words near mating mark in the dictionary

  1. mating
  2. mating bite
  3. mating bites
  4. mating call
  5. mating calls
  6. mating mark
  7. mating marks
  8. mating press
  9. mating presses
  10. mating season
  11. mating seasons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mating mark (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “mating mark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mating_mark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.