tumescence

English

Etymology

First attested 1725, from French tumescence, from Latin tumescēns (“swelling”), present participle of tumēscō (“I begin to swell”), from tumeō (“I swell”) + -ēscō (“I become”) (English -esce, in this form -escence), stem from Proto-Indo-European *tum-éh₁- (“to be swelling”), stative stem of *tum- (“to swell”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tjuːˈmɛsəns/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

tumescence (countable and uncountable, plural tumescences)

1. A swelling due to the presence of fluid.
   • 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)‎^[1]:

     It is still more remarkable that the reeves also, even in the presence of the males, will court each other and have intercourse. We may associate this with the high erotic development of birds, the difficulty with which tumescence seems to occur in them, and their long courtships.

2. A swollen bodily organ; used especially of erectile tissue.

Synonyms

• tumidity
• turgescence
• turgidity
• turgor

Derived terms

• detumescence
• nocturnal penile tumescence

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *tewh₂- (0 c, 47 e)

Translations

swelling due to presence of fluid

• Bulgarian: оток (bg) m (otok)
• Czech: topoření n, zduření n, duření n
• Dutch: zwelling (nl) f
• Finnish: paisuminen (fi)
• Russian: о́пухоль (ru) f (ópuxolʹ)

swollen organ

• Dutch: zwelling (nl) f
• Finnish: paisunut elin
• Russian: о́пухоль (ru) f (ópuxolʹ)

French

Noun

tumescence f (plural tumescences)

1. tumescence

Derived terms

• détumescence
• intumescence

Further reading

• “tumescence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.