Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “erotic” come from?

Erotic comes from French érotique, from Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός, derived from ἔρως meaning love or desire, itself from the verb ἐράω meaning to love.

erotic (English): Relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or...

Definitions

  1. Relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or...

Ancestry of “erotic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchérotiquesensual, erotic
2Latinerōticus—
3Ancient Greekἐρωτικόςrelated to love, erotic; amorous
4Ancient Greek-ικόςof or pertaining to, in the manner of; -ic
5Ancient Greek-κόςforms adjectives with the sense of 'of or...
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “erotic”

  • eroticism
  • homoerotic
  • erotically
  • homoeroticism
  • autoerotic
  • eroticization
  • autoeroticism
  • eroticize
  • nonerotic
  • unerotic
  • eroticisation
  • heteroerotic
  • homoerotically
  • heteroeroticism
  • eroticise
  • eroticist
  • antierotic
  • erotical
  • sexuoerotic
  • psychoerotic
  • autoerotically
  • alloerotic
  • unerotically
  • alloeroticism
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →