fetish

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“
This first stage does not involve any definite fetish, that is, an immediate belief in a special object which exerts its influence on the human soul, even when it is remote and unseen: such a fetish is a secondary stage in human development.

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Definitions (10)

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  1. noun An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.
  2. noun An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence: made a fetish of punctuality.
  3. noun Something, such as a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification.
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Examples (50)

  • Sergeant Bedd who had always vaguely understood that a fetish was them little round hats worn by the blacks in Africa, looked more mystified than ever Down at Elysian Hall, Mr. Port, Susan Betchley and Motherdear hung miserably about the stage. —  Death Of Jezebel - Christianna Brand - Cockrill 04: 1948
  • But a fetish is a charm, something with magical powers. —  Muller, Marcia - [11] Trophies and Dead Things.htm
  • Marx then recapitulates the argument about the commodity fetish, as it manifests in relation to the money-form: the particular inversion that causes the money commodity to appear to have certain properties independently of its imbrication in a particular kind of social relation, such that the social relation appears to arise on the foundation provided by "a social property inherent in its nature" as a material object. —  Roughtheory.org
  • The odds that you will one day meet one of the very few women out there who share your fetish are slim, FFF. —  Village Voice - The most recent 10 stories
  • Some would argue that withholding info about your fetish is dishonest. —  Village Voice - The most recent 10 stories
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bdsm ·  erotica ·  porn ·  incest ·  shemale ·  lingerie ·  anime ·  xxx ·  watersport ·  ebony ·  lesbian ·  bondage
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, artificial, charm, from Latin factīcius, artificial; see factitious.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also, after the French, fetich; first in English in the form fetisso (from Portuguese feitiço); later after the F. (the word having come into general European use in consequence of the work of Charles de Brosses, “Du Culte des Dieux fétiches,” 1760); = Dutch fetiche = Swedish Danish fetisch = German fetisch, from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, artificial (cf. feitiço, n., sorcery, charm, allurement, feiticeria, sorcery, witchcraft, feiticeiro, sorcerer, wizard, etc.), = Spanish hechizo, artificial, imitated (cf. hechizo, bewitchment, fascination, hechicería, sorcery, witchcraft, hechicero, sorcerer, etc.), = Italian fattizio, artificial, = Old French faitise, faitice (later Middle English fetise), F. restored factice, artificial, from Latin facticius, less correctly factitius, made by art, artificial, factitious, from facere, make: see fact, and cf. factitious, fetise, feat, featous, which are thus doublets of fetish. The word seems to have been applied by the Portuguese sailors and traders on the west coast of Africa to objects worshiped by the natives, which were regarded as charms or talismans.
 

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/ˈfitɪʃ/
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