different between buttock vs callipygian

English

Etymology

From Middle English buttok, probably from Old English buttuc (“end; end piece”; also, “short piece of land”). Attested with its current anatomical meaning since 1300. A diminutive form of what is presumably the Old English precursor of butt +? -ock (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?t?k/, /?b?t?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?t?k/, [?b???k]

Noun

buttock (plural buttocks)

1. (usually in the plural) Each of the two large fleshy halves of the posterior part of the body between the base of the back, the perineum and the top of the legs.

   Synonyms: (crude) asscheek, cheek; see also Thesaurus:buttocks

2. (nautical) The convexity of a ship behind, under the stern.
   • 1925, Adventure, Volume 54

     There came a blast of freezing wind that made Skell shrug himself against the oaken post on which the ship's buttock rested.

Usage notes

The plural form is usually used in the singular sense for a single person's posterior, often called butt.It is rarer to refer to only a single buttock, which is then usually specified as left or right.

Derived terms

• quakebuttock

Translations

See also

• callipygian/callipygous
• dasypygal

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “buttock”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ?????????? (kallípugos) + -ian, from ?????? (kállos, “beauty”) + ???? (pug?, “buttocks”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?kæ.l??p?.d?i.?n/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?kæl??p?d?i.?n/, /?kæli?p?d?j?n/, /?kæl??p?d?i.?n/, /?kæl??p?d?j?n/

Adjective

callipygian (comparative more callipygian, superlative most callipygian)

1. Having beautifully shaped buttocks.
   • 1918, Frances Douglas (translator), Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Sónnica, Duffield & Company, page 131:

     Suddenly the music grew fainter, as if drawing away, and the dancers, their feet together and limbs half opened, descended in a slow spiral, with gentle undulations, until they touched the floor; the instant their callipygian charms grazed the mosaic, they recoiled like suddenly awakened serpents, [...]

   • 2006, Geoffrey Brock (translator), Umberto Eco (author), The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ?ISBN, page 246:

     Her gown (perhaps as a result of the scorching winds coming off the ambas) clung damply to her body, clearly revealing her callipygian curves and the entire shapely length of her legs.

   • 2007, Ryan North, Dinosaur Comics, from the comic strip on May 22:

     [T-Rex:] My lovely visage, callipygian frame, startlingly awesome calves and charming smile will yet go down in history!

   • 2008, Conrad Black, "A nation seeking a hero," National Post (Canada), 12 January:

     With trepidation, but not embarrassment, I offer the thought that Mrs. Obama, a formerly disadvantaged alumna of Princeton and Harvard, to judge from her well-strategized appearances on national television in exiguous dresses and trousers, is as callipygian as Jennifer Lopez.

Synonyms

• (having beautiful buttocks): bootylicious, bumtastic, callipygous, rumpalicious

Related terms

• steatopygia
• steatopygous

Translations

See also

• natiform