different between feces vs stercoraceous

English

Alternative forms

• faeces (British)
• fæces (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin faec?s, nominative plural of faex (“residue, dregs”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fi?si?z/
• Rhymes: -i?si?z

Noun

feces pl (plural only) (Canada, US)

1. Digested waste material (typically solid or semi-solid) discharged from the bowels; excrement.

Usage notes

• 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, while others recognize both plural and singular use.

Synonyms

• (discharged animal waste): dung, excrement, faecal matter, caca or guano (of birds or bats only), manure (not used of human faeces)
• night soil, number two (euphemistic)
• doo, poo, poop, boo-boo, and doody (euphemistic or hypocoristic)
• crap, shit, turd, log (vulgar)
• See also Thesaurus:feces

Related terms

• defecate
• faex
• fecal
• feceate
• feculence
• feculent

Translations

References

Latin

Noun

f?c?s

1. nominative plural of f?x
2. accusative plural of f?x
3. vocative plural of f?x

English

Etymology

From Latin stercor?ceus, from stercus (“dung”).

Adjective

stercoraceous (comparative more stercoraceous, superlative most stercoraceous)

1. Consisting of, resembling or pertaining to feces.
   • 1771, Tobias Smollett, Humphry Clinker, Penguin Classics, 1985, p.46:

     He had reason to believe the stercoraceous flavour, condemned by prejudice as a stink, was, in fact, most agreeable to the organs of smelling.

   • 1988, Peter Wagner, Eros Rising, Paladin 1990, p. 182:

     [W]e find it hard today to see the entertaining aspects of, for instance, stercoraceous jokes.

Synonyms

• fecal
• stercorous