incest

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin incestus. Displaced Old English mǣġhǣmed (literally “relative-sex”). Doublet of inchaste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.sɛst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnsɛst
• Hyphenation: in‧cest

Noun

incest (usually uncountable, plural incests)

1. Sexual relations between close relatives, especially immediate family members and sometimes first cousins, usually considered taboo.

   Synonym: inbreeding

   Antonym: outbreeding

   Hyponyms: auntcest, cousincest, fauxcest, sibcest, twincest

   Genetic problems caused by incest are thought to have plagued many royal families in the Middle Ages.

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 12:

     For a structuralist like Edmund Leach, the structure is the meaning. Genesis, for example, is about incest taboos; all the rest is noise and mystification.

   • 2005, George R. R. Martin, A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire, page 225:

     He was only Craster's whelp, an abomination born of incest, not the son of the King-beyond-the-Wall.

2. (loosely) Romantic relationships between close relatives, also widely taboo.

Derived terms

• anti-incest
• cousincest
• fauxcest
• Folgercest
• incested
• incester
• incestic
• incesting
• incestism
• incestlike
• incestophile
• incestophilia
• incestophobe
• incestophobia
• incestophobic
• incestual
• incestualist
• incestuality
• incestualize
• incestually
• incestuous
• incestuously
• incestuousness
• pro-incest
• proincest
• pseudoincest
• selfcest
• sibcest
• spiritual incest
• step-incest
• twincest
• Waycest
• wincest
• yaoicest
• yuricest

Related terms

• incestuous

Translations

sexual relations between close relatives — see also endogamy

• Arabic: زِنَا مَحَارِم (zinā maḥārim), سِفَاح الْقُرْبَى m (sifāḥ al-qurbā)
• Armenian: արյունապղծություն (aryunapġcutʻyun)
• Aromanian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: incestu m
• Azerbaijani: insest
• Basque: intzestu (eu)
• Belarusian: інцэ́ст m (incést), кровазмяшэ́ння n (krovazmjašénnja)
• Breton: gwadorged (br) m
• Bulgarian: кръвосмеше́ние n (krǎvosmešénie)
• Catalan: incest m
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 亂倫 / 乱伦 (zh) (luànlún), 近親相姦 / 近亲相奸 (zh) (jìnqīn xiāngjiān)

• Czech: incest (cs) m, krvesmilství n, krvesmilstvo (cs) n
• Danish: incest c, blodskam c
• Dutch: incest (nl) m, bloedschande (nl) f
• Esperanto: sangadulto, incesto
• Estonian: intsest
• Faroese: blóðskemd f, insest f
• Finnish: insesti (fi), sukurutsaus (fi), sukurutsa (fi), (law) sukupuoliyhteys lähisukulaisten kesken
• French: inceste (fr) m
• Frisian:

  Old Frisian: swesbed

• Georgian: ინცესტი (incesṭi)
• German: Inzest (de) m
• Greek: αδελφομιξία f (adelfomixía), αιμομιξία (el) f (aimomixía)
• Gujarati: ગૌત્રગમન (gautragaman)
• Hebrew: גִלוּי עֲרָיוֹת (he)
• Hindi: अगम्यागमन (hi) m (agamyāgman), अगम्यगमन (agamyagman), सगोत्रगमन (sagotragman), अजाचार (ajācār), कुड़ुमचोदी (kuṛumcodī)
• Hungarian: vérfertőzés (hu)
• Icelandic: sifjaspell n pl
• Indonesian: hubungan sedarah, inses (id), hubungan sumbang, hubungan sekerabat
• Irish: col m, ciorrú coil m, corbadh m
• Italian: incesto (it) m
• Japanese: 近親相姦 (ja) (きんしんそうかん, kinshin sōkan), インセスト (ja) (insesuto)
• Kazakh: қан араласу (qan aralasu), инцест (insest), жатынына шабу (jatynyna şabu)
• Khmer: ទាស់មុខស្មន់ (toah muk smɑn)
• Korean: 근친상간 (ko) (geunchinsanggan)
• Laboya: hala
• Latvian: asinsgrēks m
• Lithuanian: kraujomaiša
• Macedonian: и́нцест m (íncest), родосквернавење n (rodoskvernavenje)
• Malay: sumbang mahram (ms)
• Manx: croiaght
• Māori: kaiwhiore, ngauwhiore, irawaru
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: incest m, blodskam f
• Old English: mǣġhǣmed n
• Persian: زنا با محارم (zenâ bâ mahârem)
• Polish: kazirodztwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: incesto (pt) m
• Romanian: incest (ro)
• Russian: инце́ст (ru) m (incést), кровосмеше́ние (ru) n (krovosmešénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: col m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ѝнцест m, родоскврну́ће

  Latin: ìncest (sh) m, rodoskvrnuće

• Slovak: incest (sk) m, krvismilstvo n
• Slovene: incest m
• Spanish: incesto (es) m
• Swedish: incest (sv) c, (dated) blodskam (sv) c
• Tagalog: insesto
• Telugu: అగమ్యాగమనము (te) (agamyāgamanamu)
• Turkish: ensest (tr)
• Ukrainian: інце́ст m (incést), кровозмі́шення n (krovozmíšennja)
• Vietnamese: loạn luân (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: llosgach (cy) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Frisian:

  West Frisian: ^{(please verify)} ynsest

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} rodosknavljenje n, ^{(please verify)} krvomešanje n

Verb

incest (third-person singular simple present incests, present participle incesting, simple past and past participle incested)

1. (ambitransitive) To engage in incestuous sexual activities.
   • 1994, Kathryn Carter, Interpretive Approaches to Interpersonal Communication:

     I do not want anyone to feel that my lesbianism is a result of being incested.

   • 2009, Antonino Ferro, The Analytic Field: A Clinical Concept, page 206:

     Her erotic transference ultimately devolved into a revelation that she had been consistently incested by her brother

   • 2011, Marvin Mengeling, Crows, Pete Rose, UFOs: And Other Pretty Pieces, page 2:

     […] the most powerful of that bunch of immortal giants called Titans was Cronus, who “incested” with sister Rhea, who then birthed the Olympians (Zeus and his bunch) […]

See also

• sisterfucker
• motherfucker
• brotherfucker

Further reading

• “incest”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
• “incest, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “incest”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “incest”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “incest”, in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2026
• “incest, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• ceints, insect, nicest, scient

Dutch

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin incestus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.sɛst/, (dated) /ɪnˈsɛst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧cest

Noun

incest m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. incest

   Synonyms: bloedschande, bloedschending, bloedschennis

Derived terms

• incestdrama
• incesttheorie
• incestueus

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French inceste, from Latin incestus.

Noun

incest n (plural incesturi)

1. incest

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	incest	incestul	incesturi	incesturile
genitive-dative	incest	incestului	incesturi	incesturilor
vocative	incestule		incesturilor

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin incestus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ǐnt͡sest/
• Hyphenation: in‧cest

Noun

ìncest m inan (Cyrillic spelling ѝнцест)

1. incest

Declension

Declension of incest

	singular	plural
nominative	ìncest	incesti
genitive	incesta	ȉncēstā
dative	incestu	incestima
accusative	incest	inceste
vocative	inceste	incesti
locative	incestu	incestima
instrumental	incestom	incestima

Swedish

Noun

incest c

1. incest

   Synonym: (dated) blodskam

Declension

Declension of incest

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	incest	incests
	definite	incesten	incestens
plural	indefinite	incester	incesters
	definite	incesterna	incesternas

Related terms

• incestuös (“incestuous”)

References

• “incest”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “incest”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “incest”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)