onanism
/ˈəʊnəˌnɪzəm/US/ˈoʊnəˌnɪzəm/
onanism noun: masturbation.
Noun
onanism (usually uncountable, plural onanisms)
- Masturbation.
- Hypochondriasis, hysteria, chorea, epilepsy, apoplexy, and palsy, constitute part of the list of dire maladies induced or immediately excited, by onanism and immoderate or ill-timed coition. The memory and intellectual faculties, in general, are enfeebled, and there are instances of complete...1839 February, John Bell, M.D., editor, The Eclectic Journal of Medicine, volume 3, number 4, Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, page 147
- This photograph was far superior. A nude woman was sitting on the edge of a desk next to a globe of the world. The suggested onanism with the piece of chalk intrigued Ignatius.1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 11, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 247
- Ejaculating outside the vagina during intercourse; (the performing of) coitus interruptus.
onanism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Indonesian
onanism in Hindi
- masturbation
- हस्तमैथुन hastamaithun
onanism in Tamil
- நிறைவுறா இணை விழைச்சு
onanism in Urdu
- onanism
- جلق jalaq
onanism in Indonesian
- masturbation
- onani
Forms of onanism
| plural | onanisms |
|---|
Origin of onanism
From Onan + -ism. In the Book of Genesis, Onan, son of Judah, in fulfillment of the laws of levirate marriage was to impregnate his brother Er's widow, Tamar, in order to raise offspring from the union in his brother's name. In order to avoid raising descendants for his late brother, however, Onan "spilled his semen on the ground when he went in to his brother's wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother" (Genesis 38:9).
Words formed from onanism
Questions about onanism
- What does onanism mean?
- Onanism means masturbation.
- What is onanism in Hindi?
- Onanism in Hindi is हस्तमैथुन (hastamaithun). See Onanism meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is onanism?
- Onanism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce onanism?
- Onanism is pronounced /ˈəʊnəˌnɪzəm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of onanism?
- The plural of onanism is onanisms.
Words near onanism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: onanism (page history and authors); onanism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); جلق (Urdu) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-onanism.wav.
Cite this entry: “onanism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/onanism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.