# Origin of "dick" as slang for your wang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552 "2006-07-07T21:25:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/1 "2006-07-07T21:25:32Z")
Can anyone tell me how/when dick came to be slang for penis? Yes, this is the stuff that occurs to my coworkers on a slow Friday… ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/2 "2006-07-07T21:27:05Z")
Like you never named yours, **niblet** … ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/3 "2006-07-07T21:29:39Z")
No proof, but I suspect it came from “Dick” = “short for Richard” = Common Name for a guy, the same way both “john” and “Jakes” ended up as slang for the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/4 "2006-07-07T21:46:42Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Like you never named yours, **niblet** … Dearie, mine’s named “Lisa”. And my vibrator’s name is “Bouncy Bouncy Joy Joy”. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/5 "2006-07-07T21:48:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > No proof, but I suspect it came from “Dick” = “short for Richard” = Common Name for a guy, the same way both “john” and “Jakes” ended up as slang for the toilet. Do you know why/how ‘Dick’ become short for Richard? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/6 "2006-07-07T22:20:58Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Do you know why/how ‘Dick’ become short for Richard? Just a WAG, but maybe it progressed Richard -\> Rich -\> Rick -\> Dick. As for the OP, the names Peter and Johnson are also slang terms for penis. It seems like naming your unit is just a pretty common thing. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/7 "2006-07-07T22:24:10Z")
I was mildly surprised that _putz_ is also slang for penis. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/8 "2006-07-07T22:35:50Z")
> [@Chez Guevara](#): > > I was mildly surprised that _putz_ is also slang for penis. Also? AFAIK, that was the original meaning. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/9 "2006-07-07T23:45:06Z")
From the Online Etymology Dictionary: > [@](#): > > “fellow, lad, man,” 1553, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest Eng. names, it has long been a synonym for “fellow,” and so most of the slang senses are probably very old, but naturally hard to find in the surviving records. The meaning “penis” is attested from 1891 in British army slang; dickhead “stupid person” is from 1969. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/10 "2006-07-08T04:24:51Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdick.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdick.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/11 "2006-07-08T05:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The derivation may be from a contraction of “derrick,” a crane that can rise up. Another possible derivation is from **dickory dock** , which is rhyming slang for **cock**. From _Sexual Slang_, by Alan Richter, Ph.D. ---
**Author:** ![Lynwood\_Slim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Lynwood\_Slim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynwood_Slim)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/12 "2006-07-08T05:48:55Z")
Dick means “thick” in German. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/13 "2006-07-08T07:11:36Z")
> [@Lynwood Slim](#): > > Dick means “thick” in German. Well that certainly makes “Thick Richard”, the name of a band that used to be around here, even funnier. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/14 "2006-07-08T13:02:00Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Also? AFAIK, that was the original meaning. Reaching way back to my high school German, I remember the title of one of the dialogs we learned: _Wir putzen das Auto_. ‘We’re washing the car.’ From [here](http://german.about.com/library/verbs/blverb_index2.htm): > [@](#): > > **putzen** to clean, groom Babelfish says _putzen_ means ‘deseam’, and _putz_ means ‘finery’. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/15 "2006-07-08T15:54:17Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Reaching way back to my high school German, I remember the title of one of the dialogs we learned: _Wir putzen das Auto_. ‘We’re washing the car.’ From [here](http://german.about.com/library/verbs/blverb_index2.htm): > > Babelfish says _putzen_ means ‘deseam’, and _putz_ means ‘finery’. I thought _putz_ was Yiddish for penis. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/16 "2006-07-08T16:21:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I thought _putz_ was Yiddish for penis. It is. So are schmuck, shvantz, and shlong. Schmuck has evolved into a milder term for a fool, used almost exclusively instead of the literal meaning. Putz has acquired a sense of a stronger idiot, and that is crowding out the older literal meaning. Shvantz also is said to have a figurative meaning, although I’ve never heard it used that way. Shlong seems only to mean penis, though, without other connotations. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/17 "2006-07-08T21:40:23Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > The derivation may be from a contraction of “derrick,” a crane that can rise up. Another possible derivation is from dickory dock, which is rhyming slang for cock. > > From Sexual Slang, by Alan Richter, Ph.D. “Derrick”? And it just somehow lost half a syllable? Jesus, don’t turn to that guy for etymology again. I’m flabbergasted by the way people seem to feel so free to invent completely random explanations for words and advance them as etymologies. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/18 "2006-07-09T03:06:16Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > It is. So are schmuck, shvantz, and shlong. > > Schmuck has evolved into a milder term for a fool, used almost exclusively instead of the literal meaning. Putz has acquired a sense of a stronger idiot, and that is crowding out the older literal meaning. Shvantz also is said to have a figurative meaning, although I’ve never heard it used that way. Shlong seems only to mean penis, though, without other connotations. My Jewish friend once told me that schmuck was Yiddish for foreskin and it’s slang meaning, that of a jerk or fool, arose because the foreskin is completely useless (to a Jewish person). Someone better versed in Yiddish is welcome to correct me on this. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/19 "2006-07-09T03:44:41Z")
> [@Rhubarb](#): > > My Jewish friend once told me that schmuck was Yiddish for foreskin and it’s slang meaning, that of a jerk or fool, arose because the foreskin is completely useless (to a Jewish person). Someone better versed in Yiddish is welcome to correct me on this. Wikipedia agrees with you, if that’s worth anything. And in [the future](http://imdb.com/title/tt0094012/), Schwartz will also mean penis. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552/20 "2006-07-09T04:30:44Z")
Funny how a john is a bathroom, and a johnson is a penis. Is it true that a dork is a whale’s penis? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-dick-as-slang-for-your-wang/363552.md?page=2)