Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A copulatory organ of some male insects.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • BTW, the proper name for an insect intromittent organ is an aedeagus.

    WordPress.com News 2009

Comments

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  • "The beetle penis became Jeannel's bread and butter. Aware of its potential, he invariably assigned projects to his students that involved dissecting, describing, and categorizing the penises of beetles and other insects, and was puzzled when, in one case, this brought a female student to tears. She told him that he could not possibly expect such a thing of a lady. In what must have been an effort of empathy, Jeannel defused the situation by pointing out that he was not actually asking her to study penises; instead he preferred to use the word 'aedeagus' (from the Greek ta aidoia, 'the genitals'), since 'penis,' 'phallus,' and 'prepuce' are terms usually reserved for vertebrates like ourselves."

    Menno Schilthuizen, Nature's Nether Regions (New York: Penguin, 2014), p. 31

    October 11, 2015