# Derivation of "dildo" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497 "2015-02-24T06:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/1 "2015-02-24T06:04:24Z")
Dictionaries agree that the word has been in the language since the 16th Century, but they offer no help as to its origin. It doesn’t even seem like an English word to me. Does anyone have an hypothesis? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/2 "2015-02-24T06:54:44Z")
From _diletto_, Italian for “joy,” “delight,” “pleasure.” ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/3 "2015-02-24T06:59:46Z")
[Or not.](http://blog.oup.com/2007/02/dildo_back_and_/) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/4 "2015-02-24T10:30:13Z")
I wonder if there is a connection with ‘diddle’ in the sense of female masturbation? ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/5 "2015-02-24T10:56:14Z")
I was going to mention Dildo, Canada and when looking for its [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador), I found this: > [@](#): > > The origin of the word “dildo” itself is obscure. It was once used to reference a phallus-shaped pin stuck in the edging of a row boat to act as a pivot for the oar (also known as a “thole pin” or “dole pin.” It was used as early as the 16th century for a cylindrical object such as a dildo glass (test tube), for a phallus-shaped sex toy, as an insult for a “contemptuous or reviling” male, and as a refrain in ballads. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/6 "2015-02-24T15:31:03Z")
As a refrain in ballads, it’s probably just a nonsense word that trips easily off the tongue-- You get a lot of those in some cultures’ music. I suppose that it’s possible that some ballad or another used it in that way, and the word made it into the language from the song. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/7 "2015-02-24T15:58:24Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > [Or not.](http://blog.oup.com/2007/02/dildo_back_and_/) Fascinating stuff, thanks ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/8 "2015-02-24T16:16:00Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I wonder if there is a connection with ‘diddle’ in the sense of female masturbation? From the cited article: > [@](#): > > In England, the hot-dumpling sellers’ cry was: “Diddle, diddle, dumpling,” memorable from Mother Goose: “Diddle, diddle dumpling, my son John,/ Went to bed with his trousers on;/ One shoe off, and one shoe on,/ Diddle, diddle dumpling, my son John.” From a phonetic point of view, diddle is not too far from dildo—a similar combination of sounds denoting moving about and looking alive. [Etymonline.com](http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=diddle&searchmode=none) says: > [@](#): > > diddle (v.) > “to cheat, swindle,” 1806, from dialectal duddle, diddle “to totter” (1630s). Meaning “waste time” is recorded from 1825. Meaning “to have sex with” is from 1879; that of “to masturbate” (especially of women) is from 1950s. More or less unrelated meanings that have gathered around a suggestive sound. Related: Diddled; diddling. If diddle comes from “to totter” that also implies a moving about. The article says dildo implies a moving back and forth motion similar to fuck. So it’s hard to say whether they are actively related or the similarity of sounds and meanings led them to be conflated in ordinary speech. ---
**Author:** ![Anita\_Dayoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Anita\_Dayoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anita_Dayoff)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/9 "2015-02-26T02:08:11Z")
To make it, you use dill dough. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/10 "2015-02-28T00:13:46Z")
While we are on the subject of dildos; do lesbians, who purportedly don’t want a phallus anywhere near, actually buy and use phallus-shaped dildos? ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/11 "2015-02-28T14:49:43Z")
I misread the thread title as _ **Deprivation of "dildo"** _ and thought this was about some landmark human rights court ruling. =/ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/12 "2015-02-28T15:21:29Z")
> [@](#): > > do lesbians, who purportedly don’t want a phallus anywhere near… By whom is this purported? ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/13 "2015-02-28T16:03:20Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I wonder if there is a connection with ‘diddle’ in the sense of female masturbation? This is from modern “comedian”, Dane Cook. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/14 "2015-03-02T22:13:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > By whom is this purported? Thanks for bumping the thread up. (At least I hope you were bumping it up. I’m never sure what these terse short responses mean.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derivation-of-dildo/713497/15 "2015-03-03T02:08:13Z")
I wasn’t really bumping the thread. It wasn’t long since the last reply, so it hadn’t sunk very far on the thread list. I was asking a question.