literotica

L1I1T1E1R1O1T1I1C3A1

noun

Erotic literature.

Less commonScrabble 12

Meanings

nounliterotica (uncountable)
  1. uncountableErotic literature.

    Many people like erotica, and fanfiction plays into the field of literotica, engaging with the reader’s desires intellectually.

    2023, Michele Kirichanskaya, Ace Notes: Tips and Tricks on Existing in an Allo World, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 144
    2 more examples

    Whether it’s the tale of the televangelist who meets his match in Hell or the gay moralist who finds the man of his dreams at a circuit party or the skater boy who’s seduced by a Whitman-quoting bear or the Black leatherdaddy with a secret fondness for the color khaki or the Long Island housewife who beats the Devil at his own game, there is definitely something in this collection of literotica to arouse anyone who is queer in the head.

    2001, Ian Philips, See Dick Deconstruct: Literotica for the Satirically Bent, San Francisco, Calif.: AttaGirl Press, →ISBN, back cover

    Sure, most pulps of the day featured horny wrestlers, well-hung lumberjacks, and the like, but it would be a mistake to think that until the 1990s’ rise of “literotica,” serious themes—and anxieties—were altogether absent from gay porn.

    2007, “From Young, Wild, and Sexy: Bob Cochran (1970)”, in Simon Sheppard, editor, Homosex: Sixty Years of Gay Erotica, New York, N.Y.: Carroll & Graf Publishers, →ISBN, page 69

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂leyH-
  2. Old Latinleitera
  3. Latinlīterader.?
  4. Proto-Hellenic*dipʰtʰérā?
  5. Ancient Greekδιφθέρᾱ (diphthérā)
  6. Etruscan[Term?]bor.?
  7. Latinlittera
  8. Latinlitterātūra
  9. Old Frenchlittérature
  10. Middle Englishliterature
  11. Englishliterature
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₁rem-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₁rém-e-tider.?
  14. Ancient Greekἐράω (eráō)
  15. Ancient Greekἔρως (érōs)
  16. Ancient Greekἐρωτῐκός (erōtĭkós)
  17. Latinerōtica
  18. Englisherotica
  19. Englishliterotica

Blend of literature + erotica. Genericized from the trademark Literotica held by Sunlane Media for the free erotic fiction website literotica.com, which started in 1998.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

literotica. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/literotica

MLA

“literotica.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/literotica. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “literotica,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/literotica.

Source: literotica on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.