Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Euphemism

Definition: Euphemism

Euphemism

Noun

1. An inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "euphemism" was first used: 1656. (references)

Synonyms within Context: Euphemism

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Elegance

Graceful, easy, readable, fluent, flowing, tripping; unaffected, natural, unlabored; mellifluous; euphonious, euphemism, euphemistic; numerose, rhythmical.

Flattery

Voice of the charmer, mouth honor; lip homage; euphemism; unctuousness; Adjective:

Ornament

Flourish; flowers of speech, flowers of rhetoric; frills of style, euphuism, euphemism.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Euphemism

English words defined with "euphemism": BM, bowel movementdarnEuphemistical, euphemizeheckleakmaking water, member, movementpassing water, penis, Phallusroad agentshoplifting, shrinkage, Story-tellerwetting, White lie. (references)
Specialty definitions using "euphemism": art photographsBlow MeFrom hence. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Euphemism

DomainTitle

Books

  • Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used As Shield and Weapon (reference)

  • Euphemism, Spin, and the Crisis in Organizational Life (reference)

  • Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism (reference)

  • Slang and Euphemism (reference)

  • The Wordsworth Book of Euphemism (reference)

    (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Euphemism

SubjectTopicQuote

Women

Syria

The law specifically provides for reduced sentences in "honor" crimes (a euphemism that refers to violent assaults with intent to murder against a female by a male for alleged sexual misconduct). (references)

Morocco

However, such "honor crimes," a euphemism that refers to violent assaults with intent to commit murder against a female for her perceived immodest or defiant behavior, remain extremely rare in Morocco. (references)

Yemen

The Penal Code allows for leniency for persons guilty of committing a "crime against honor," a euphemism for violent assaults or killings committed against a female for her perceived immodest or defiant behavior. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Euphemism

"Euphemism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Euphemism" is used about 89 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)100%8934,931

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Euphemism

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

  euphemism

124

  euphemism sex

7

  euphemism example

7

  death euphemism

4

  euphemism masturbation

4

  anal anal euphemism euphemism sex sex

3

  define euphemism

3

  euphemism penis

3

  english euphemism

2

  breast euphemism

2

  dictionary euphemism

2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Euphemism

Language Translations for "euphemism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

eufemizm. (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏لطف التعبير. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

евфемизъм. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

雅语 (Euphemistic). (various references)

   

Czech

  

eufemismus. (various references)

   

French

  

euphémisme. (various references)

   

German

  

euphemismus. (various references)

   

Greek 

  

ευφημισμόσ. (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

לשון ס'י "ור, לשון קי". (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

szépítő kifejezés, eufémizmus. (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

ungkapan pelembut. (various references)

   

Italian

  

eufemismo. (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

美称 (eulogistic name), ユーコン准州 (eugenics, eunos, European television satellite, Eutelsat, euthanasia, euthanasie, humor, submarine, U-boat, UFO, ufology, unidentified flying object, usance, usance bill, used car, user, user interface, user-friendly, users, utility, utility program, utility room, utopia, U-turn, youth, youth hostel, youth market, Yugoslavia, Yukon Territory). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

ユーフュミズ , びしょう (eulogistic name, infinitesimal, microscopic, slight wound, smile). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

완곡어법. (various references)

   

Manx

  

lhiass-ennym (alias, by-name). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

euphemismay

   

Portuguese

  

eupéptico. (various references)

   

Romanian

  

eufemism. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

эвфемизм. (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

eufemizam. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

eufemismo, proceso eufemístico. (various references)

   

Swedish

  

eufemism. (various references)

   

Thai

  

การใช้ถ้อยคำหรือ าษาที่สุ าพนุ่มนวลล"ความรุนแรงลง, ศัพท์หรือ าษาที่นุ่มนวล. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

edebikelâm, örtmece. (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

евфемізм. (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

uyển ngữ, lời nói trại. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Euphemism

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Greek700 BCE-300 CE

euphemismos. (various references)

Latin500 BCE-Modern

amplexus. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Euphemism

Derivations

Words beginning with "euphemism": euphemisms. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Euphemism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: eupemism, euphamism, euphamizm, euphemisam, euphemise, euphemisim, euphemismm, euphemsism, euphemsm, euphenism, eupherism, euphermism, euphiemsm, euphimism, euphmism, euphomism, euphumism, euphymism, uphemism. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Euphemism"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "euphemism" (pronounced yuw"fumi'zum)
6-u m i' z u manimism, dynamism, optimism, overoptimism, pessimism.
5-m i' z u mextremism.
4-i' z u mabolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bilingualism, bolshevism, boosterism, botulism, cannibalism, capitalism, catechism, centralism, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, emotionalism, empiricism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, factionalism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, favoritism, federalism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, gradualism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, Irredentism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, leftism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, mysticism, narcissism, nationalism, nativism, naturalism, negativism, nepotism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, organism, ostracism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, perfectionism, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, pragmatism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, racism, radicalism, realism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, socialism, statism, stoicism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism.
3-z u mbosom, careerism, chasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm, ism, microcosm, neoplasm, orgasm, phantasm, prism, sarcasm, schism, spasm.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Euphemism

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "e-e-h-i-m-m-p-s-u"

-2 letters: imphees.

-3 letters: hempie, immesh, imphee.

-4 letters: emeus, hemes, hemps, humps, memes, mimes, mumps, peise, sheep, spume.

-5 letters: emes, emeu, emus, heme, hemp, hems, hies, hips, hues, hump, hums, imps, meme, mems, mesh, mime, mise, mump, mums, muse, mush, pees, pehs, phis, pies, pish, push, seem, seep, seme, semi, shim, ship, simp, sipe, spue, sump.

 Words containing the letters "e-e-h-i-m-m-p-s-u"
 

+1 letter: euphemisms.

 

+5 letters: hyperimmunizes.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Alternative Orthography: Euphemism


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

45 75 70 68 65 6D 69 73 6D

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

.    ..-    .--.    ....    .    --    ..    ...    --

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000101 01110101 01110000 01101000 01100101 01101101 01101001 01110011 01101101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#69 &#117 &#112 &#104 &#101 &#109 &#105 &#115 &#109

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0045 0075 0070 0068 0065 006D 0069 0073 006D

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

398782747179758579

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Crosswords
3. Usage: Commercial
4. Quotations: Non-fiction
5. Usage Frequency
6. Expressions: Internet
7. Translations: Modern
8. Translations: Ancient
9. Derivations
10. Rhymes
11. Anagrams
12. Orthography
13. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.