fetish

English

WOTD – 8 October 2008

Alternative forms

• fetich (dated [18th c.–present])

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: fĕtʹĭsh, fēʹtĭsh, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛt.ɪʃ/, /ˈfiː.tɪʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtɪʃ, -iːtɪʃ

Noun

fetish (plural fetishes)

1. Something which is believed to possess, contain, or cause spiritual or magical powers; an amulet or a talisman. [from the early 17th c.]
   • 1958, Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King:

     The idols and fetishes were being dressed up and whitewashed, receiving sacrifices.

2. Sexual attraction to or arousal at something abnormally sexual or nonsexual, such as an object or a nonsexual part of the body. [from the early 19th c.]

   Synonym: paraphilia

   I know a guy who has a foot fetish.

   a fetish for leather

   • 1985, Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, page 163:

     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.

3. An irrational, or abnormal fixation or preoccupation; an obsession. [from the 19th c.]

   a fetish for deficit reduction

   • 1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “On the Arizona Hills”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917, →OCLC, page 6:

     However, I am not prone to sensitiveness, and the following of a sense of duty, wherever it may lead, has always been a kind of fetich with me throughout my life; which may account for the honors bestowed upon me by three republics and the decorations and friendships of an old and powerful emperor and several lesser kings, in whose service my sword has been red many a time.

   • 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC:

     We have a feeling that it must be "honest" work, because it is hard and disagreeable, and we have made a sort of fetish of manual work.

Derived terms

• fet
• fetishism
• fetishist
• fetishistic
• fetishize
• fetishlike
• fetish-man
• fetish priest
• fetishwear
• finish fetish

 

Translations

something nonsexual which arouses sexual desire

• Armenian: ֆետիշ (hy) (fetiš)
• Basque: fetitxe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 戀物／恋物 (zh) (liànwù)

• Czech: fetiš
• Danish: fetish
• Dutch: fetisj (nl)
• Esperanto: fetiĉo
• Finnish: fetišši, fetissi (fi)
• French: fétiche (fr) m
• Georgian: ფეტიში (peṭiši)
• German: Fetisch (de) m
• Greek: φετίχ (el) n (fetích), βίτσιο (el) n (vítsio)
• Hungarian: fétis (hu)
• Italian: feticismo (it)
• Japanese: フェティシズム (ja) (fetishizumu), フェチ (ja) (fechi), フェティッシュ (fetisshu)
• Korean: 페티시즘 (petisijeum), 페티시 (petisi)
• Polish: fetysz (pl) m
• Portuguese: fetiche (pt) m
• Romanian: fetiș (ro) n
• Russian: фети́ш (ru) m (fetíš)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фетиш m

  Roman: fetiš (sh) m

• Spanish: fetiche (es) m
• Swedish: fetisch (sv) c
• Turkish: fetiş (tr)
• Vietnamese: ái vật

something believed to possess spiritual or magical powers

• Armenian: ֆետիշ (hy) (fetiš)
• Basque: fetitxe
• Bulgarian: муска́ (bg) f (muská), амуле́т (bg) m (amulét)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 物神 (zh) (wùshén)

• Finnish: taikakalu (fi), fetišši, fetissi (fi)
• French: fétiche (fr) m
• German: Fetisch (de) m
• Hungarian: bálvány (hu), fétis (hu)
• Italian: feticcio (it)
• Polish: fetysz (pl) m
• Portuguese: fetiche (pt) m
• Russian: фети́ш (ru) m (fetíš), амуле́т (ru) m (amulét)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фетиш m

  Roman: fetiš (sh) m

• Spanish: fetiche (es) m
• Turkish: fetiş (tr)

irrational or abnormal fixation

• Armenian: ֆետիշ (hy) (fetiš)
• Bulgarian: фети́ш (bg) m (fetíš), куми́р (bg) m (kumír)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 迷戀／迷恋 (zh) (míliàn)

• Finnish: päähänpinttymä
• French: fétiche (fr) m
• German: Fetisch (de) m
• Greek: βίτσιο (el) n (vítsio)
• Russian: фети́ш (ru) m (fetíš), куми́р (ru) m (kumír), и́дол (ru) m (ídol)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фетиш m

  Roman: fetiš (sh) m

• Spanish: fetiche (es) m
• Ukrainian: фети́ш m (fetýš)

Anagrams

• feiths, thiefs