defecation

See also: défécation

English

Alternative forms

• defaecation
• defæcation (chiefly archaic)

Etymology

17th century, borrowed from Late Latin dēfaecātiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɛfɪˈkeɪʃən/, /ˌdɛfəˈkeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

defecation (countable and uncountable, plural defecations)

1. The act or process of voiding feces from the bowels.
2. Any of several processes for the removal of impurities, or for clarifying various materials.
   • 1883, National Academy of Sciences (US), Investigation of the Scientific and Economic Relations of the Sorghum Sugar Industry, page 84:

     The juice after it leaves the mill has a more or less green color, due to the presence of large quantities of chlorophyl and other vegetable substances, which must be removed. This process is known as defecation.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defecation

Derived terms

• open defecation

Translations

act or process of voiding excrement

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 排便 (zh) (páibiàn)

• Czech: vyprázdnění n
• Esperanto: fekado
• Finnish: ulostaminen (fi)
• French: défécation (fr) f
• Georgian: მოკუკვა (moḳuḳva), კუკვა (ḳuḳva), მოჯმა (moǯma), კუჭში გასვლა (ḳuč̣ši gasvla)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: αφόδευση (el) f (afódefsi), κένωση (el) f (kénosi)
• Italian: defecazione (it) f
• Japanese: 排便 (はいべん, haiben)
• Polish: wypróżnienie (pl) n, defekacja (pl) f
• Spanish: defecación (es) f, deposición (es), deyección, egestión (es), evacuación (es)
• Turkish: dışkılama (tr)
• Volapük: jied (vo)

process of removing impurities

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: puhdistaminen (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: defecazione (it) f
• Polish: defekacja (pl) f
• Spanish: defecación (es) f

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “defecation”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.