feces
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: fèces
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin faecēs, nominative plural of faex (“residue, dregs”), further origin unknown; possibly borrowed from a substrate language.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈfiːsiːz/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːsiːz
Noun
[edit]feces pl (plural only) (Canada, US)
- Digested waste material (typically solid or semi-solid) discharged from a human or other mammal's stomach to the intestines; excrement.
- 2011 June 21, Kay E. Holekamp, “Why Study Hyenas?”, in The New York Times[1]:
- We are also extracting DNA, both from blood collected during immobilizations and from hyena feces.
Usage notes
[edit]- This word can be used with plural verbs ("feces have a strong smell") or singular ones ("feces has a strong smell"). Use with plural verbs is more common, especially in Britain, and is the only use recognized by some dictionaries,[1] while others recognize both plural and singular use.[2]
- A singular form faex is rarely used, in some academic contexts, particularly when the spelling faeces is used for the plural.
Synonyms
[edit]- (discharged animal waste): dung, excrement, droppings, faecal matter, caca, spoor
- (discharged domestic animal waste): manure
- (discharged bird or bat waste): guano
- night soil, number two (euphemistic)
- doo, poo, poop, boo-boo, doo-doo, dookie and doody (euphemistic or hypocoristic)
- crap, shit, turd, log (vulgar)
- See also Thesaurus:feces
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
|
References
[edit]- ^ “feces”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ “feces” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.
Latin
[edit]Noun
[edit]fēcēs
Spanish
[edit]Noun
[edit]feces m pl
Categories:
- English terms derived from substrate languages
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːsiːz
- Rhymes:English/iːsiːz/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English pluralia tantum
- Canadian English
- American English
- English terms with quotations
- en:Feces
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin noun forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish noun forms