Word of the Day ·
fetish
noun
What it means
- countabledateduncountableanimismA figure representing the spirit of a deity, human, or animal; an idol or voodoo doll.
"It is not difficult for a negro to believe that he is a Zombie, and a very bad one at that. The step to Baron Samedi is simple. Mr. Big encourages the idea by having the Baron's fetish at his elbow. You saw it in his room."
1954, Ian Fleming, “Allumeuse”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 1101 more example
This was the trunk of a large wooden doll […] now entirely defaced by a long career of vicarious suffering. […] The last nail had been driven in with a fiercer stroke than usual, for the Fetish on that occasion represented aunt Glegg.
1860, George Eliot, chapter VI, in The Mill on the Floss, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons - countableuncountableSexual fixation to or arousal at something abnormally sexual or non-sexual, such as an object or a non-sexual part of the body.First known use the early 19th c.
a fetish for leather
2 more examples
I know a guy who has a foot fetish.
The first time, I was confused. His needs were obscure to me, and what I could perceive of them seemed to me ridiculous, laughable, like a fetish for lace-up shoes.
1985, Margaret Atwood, “Soul Scrolls”, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, page 163Synonyms: kink, objectophilia
In a sentence
The idols and fetishes were being dressed up and whitewashed, receiving sacrifices.
1958, Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King
Where it comes from
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁k-
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰh₁kyéti
- Proto-Italic*θakjō
- Proto-Italic*fakjō
- Latinfaciō
- Latinfactus
- Latinfactīcius
- Portuguesefeitiço
- Frenchfétiche
- Englishfetish
Borrowed from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço, from Latin factīcius (“artificial”). Doublet of factitious.
First known use: the early 17th c.
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