# How did 'Member' come to mean 'Penis'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457 "2008-11-13T01:40:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/1 "2008-11-13T01:40:18Z")
It might be a locale-centric thing, but I’m pretty sure that the word ‘Member’ is another word for ‘Penis’ where I come from. how did that meaning originate? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/2 "2008-11-13T01:42:19Z")
One of the definitions of “member” is a physical limb or extremity, so I assume it’s meant in that sense. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/3 "2008-11-13T01:44:46Z")
“Members Only”. Sorry, first thing that came up. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/4 "2008-11-13T01:52:54Z")
An earlier age used to use “virile member” for that particular extremity. Or “membrum virile”, if they wished to sound erudite. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/5 "2008-11-13T02:02:47Z")
And we all know where the …uh… _Male Meatus_ is, right? I _think_ that’s where we got that delightful little tune: “I beat my meat on the toilet seat, doo dah, doo dah”… 😉 Y’all wanna change the subject yet? 😃 Q ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/6 "2008-11-13T02:05:00Z")
Actually, it’s the other way around from what you might expect. Member, cognate with Latin membrum, meant a body part, particularly an appendage: finger, toe, tentacle, proboscis, penis, external ear, etc. St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians uses an extended metaphor, that Christians generally and in particular the church members of Corinth, are all parts of the Mystical Body of Christ, his “appendages” through which his work in this world is done – and each appendage, each “member” should work in concert with support of the others. This metaphor gave rise to the more common modern use, through the image of the Church as Christ’s Body, and its members (modern sense) as his members (ancient sense). From the use as church members, it got extended to being members of any organization and then of any classification group, to the extent that the original meaning of appendage is only preserved in fossil uses like “virile member” for penis. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/7 "2008-11-13T02:17:32Z")
**Polycarp** is making me feel like a real Sleaze-Ball with all those high-falutin’ Biblical insinuendoes of his. What I wanna know is where we got the expression “shaking hands with the Bishop”! 😃 Q ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/8 "2008-11-13T02:28:17Z")
Hey, **Quasi** , look what word is right under your name in your post. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/9 "2008-11-13T02:58:56Z")
It’s not limited to English, either. An expression for penis in German is _männliches Glied_, which means “male member”. The word _Mitglied_ means a member, as in a club. Also recall that the word “dismember” means to tear limb from limb, as if any sort of appendage is considered a member. ---
**Author:** ![sundog66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sundog66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sundog66)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/10 "2008-11-13T02:59:57Z")
Interestingly, “penis” is the _very first_ (and oldest) sense of “member” listed in the OED! :eek: Citations go back to c1300, and the oldest one that I can actually make sense of is the following: > [@OED](#): > > c1390 CHAUCER Parson’s Tale 330 They sowed of figge leues a manere of breches to hiden hire membres. According to one Modern English translation of this piece, the meaning is “they sewed fig-leaves together into a kind of breeches to hide their members.” ([The Canterbury Tales -- Chapter 52](http://web.archive.org/web/20020618213420/http://www.litrix.com/canterby/cante052.htm)) (This is in reference to the story of Adam and Eve. Apparently, “member” can also refer to female genitalia, or at least it used to be able to.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/11 "2008-11-13T03:32:47Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > An earlier age used to use “virile member” for that particular extremity. Or “membrum virile”, if they wished to sound erudite. Have you heard of the Widow O’Reilly, Who esteemed her late husband so highly That in spite of the scandal Her umbrella handle Was made of his _membrum virile_? ---
**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:** [November 13, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/12 "2008-11-13T03:52:39Z")
> [@](#): > > What I wanna know is where we got the expression “shaking hands with the Bishop”! If that’s a serious question, a bishop’s miter superficially resembles the head of a penis. Of course, any word whatsoever can mean “penis”, in the right context. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/13 "2008-11-13T04:38:25Z")
In the engineering/construction world, the components of a structural system, like columns and beams are referred to as members. I had thought the origin of the use of the word “member” for penis might have originated from there. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/14 "2008-11-13T04:45:39Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > In the engineering/construction world Well, they do build erections. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/15 "2008-11-13T04:51:32Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Hey, **Quasi** , look what word is right under your name in your post. Guess I know what that makes **me** , then! 🙂 **Which reminds me…** 😉 Back in late July/early August, I was in Colorado for a cycling event, and I stayed at a very nice hotel in Fort Collins. (Beautiful scenery!) As I was getting on the elevator with my TREK, a young man about to deliver a pizza got on with me, and he was wearing a jacket on the back of which were written the words, _“You ARE What You Eat”_. So I complimented him on that phrase and informed him that “I guess that makes **me** a pussy!”😉 I made that kid’s day, I think! Sometimes the old jokes are the best ones! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-member-come-to-mean-penis/472457/16 "2008-11-13T05:15:33Z")
I have a fondness for Victorian pornographic literature (the most repressive societies create the most twisted porn). I ran across references to a a man’s “Member for Cock-shire” - which of course was upstanding.