Etymology

fetish

F4E1T1I1S1H4

Today it means: Something which is believed to possess, contain, or cause spiritual or magical powers; an amulet or a talisman. Full definition →

First used the early 17th c.French fétiche ← Portuguese feitiço ← Latin factīcius
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁k-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*dʰh₁kyéti
  4. Proto-Italic*θakjō
  5. Proto-Italic*fakjō
  6. Latinfaciō
  7. Latinfactus
  8. Latinfactīcius
  9. Portuguesefeitiço
  10. Frenchfétiche
  11. English todayfetish

Borrowed from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, from Latin factīcius (“artificial”). Doublet of factitious.

Words from the same roots

Latinfactīcius all →

featous

First known use, by meaning

  • from the early 17th c. Something which is believed to possess, contain, or cause spiritual or magical powers; an amulet or a talisman.
  • from the early 19th c. Sexual fixation to or arousal at something abnormally sexual or non-sexual, such as an object or a non-sexual part of the body.
  • from the 19th c. An irrational or abnormal preoccupation or fixation on some object or activity; an obsession.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.