# Why is Penis spelt wrongly **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645 "2018-12-24T19:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/21 "2018-12-25T17:07:42Z")
Yeah, that’s what I was going to say, too. All unstressed vowels tend to merge into schwas, and can be interchanged without sounding more than a little wrong. And just as a reminder, the plural of “penis” is either “penises” (according to English rules), or “penes” (according to Latin rules). Like most Latin words ending in -is, the plural is -es (or at least, the plural nominative, but English doesn’t use different forms for different cases of amateurnouns). Using something like “penii” (which should actually be the plural of “penius”, if there were such a word) is both pretentious _and_ wrong, the worst of both worlds. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/22 "2018-12-25T17:27:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Using something like “penii” (which should actually be the plural of “penius”, if there were such a word) is both pretentious _and_ wrong, the worst of both worlds. It’s the _ironic_ plural. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/23 "2018-12-25T17:49:20Z")
You heard about English-language spelling reform ? ---
**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:** [December 25, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/24 "2018-12-25T19:27:16Z")
**Riemann** , don’t you mean “iironic”? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/25 "2018-12-25T20:16:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Using something like “penii” (which should actually be the plural of “penius”, if there were such a word) is both pretentious _and_ wrong, the worst of both worlds. Fun fact #1: the Penius (attested in Latin) is a river and town in Georgia Fun fact #2: penis literally means, tail ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/26 "2018-12-25T20:52:13Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Fun fact #1: the Penius (attested in Latin) is a river and town in Georgia > > Fun fact #2: penis literally means, tail Fun fact #3: I’ve been walking backwards my entire life and never knew it. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/27 "2018-12-26T04:26:50Z")
I’ve generally thought that the word “penis” absolutely must come from the same place that “peninsula” does given the fact that the penis is like a peninsula of the body. The latter comes from Latin “paene insula”-\>“paeninsula”, meaning “almost island”. But the similarities are likely just a coincidence as Wikitionary lists different PIE roots for “penis” and “paene”. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/28 "2018-12-26T05:56:53Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I’ve generally thought that the word “penis” absolutely must come from the same place that “peninsula” does given the fact that the penis is like a peninsula of the body. The latter comes from Latin “paene insula”-\>“paeninsula”, meaning “almost island”. But the similarities are likely just a coincidence as Wikitionary lists different PIE roots for “penis” and “paene”. In Latin, they have different vowel sounds. The first syllable of “penis” sounds like English “pane”, while that of “paeninsula” sounds like “pine”. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/29 "2018-12-26T15:00:11Z")
In my dialect, the second syllable of penis is a schwa. In fact, the large majority of unstressed syllables are the same. We have no standard way of representing this. In addition, what is a schwa in my dialect might not be in yours and vice versa. With only 5 or six vowels in the alphabet and 22-24 distinct vowels in various dialects (a range I read somewhere; I never tried to count them) it is hopeless to represent all the sounds in spelling. ---
**Author:** ![MDfive21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@MDfive21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MDfive21)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/30 "2018-12-26T16:55:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Who put the schwa in schwantz? excellent! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/31 "2018-12-26T17:33:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Like nearly all English words, it’s spelled the way it was pronounced \*at the time it entered the language \*. > > Words often change their pronunciation over time. There is no way for spelling to catch up. Not so much entered the language as frozen after Gutenberg. Before printed books, spelling danced all over the place. Even someone writing their own surname could spell it varying ways, sometimes in the same document. > [@lingyi](#): > > If it was pronounced with a ‘us’, this joke wouldn’t be funny: . . . We’d also lose the typo: the penis mightier than the sword. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/32 "2018-12-26T17:57:05Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > Can we start writing it as Penus? It all depends on how the pen is held in one’s hand. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/33 "2018-12-26T18:06:51Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It all depends on how the pen is held in one’s hand. I number all my pens; pen 15 is my favourite. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/34 "2018-12-26T19:27:31Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > I number all my pens; pen 15 is my favourite. This seems like unnecessary detail. When asked what is my favorite writing implement is, I reply: my pen is. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/35 "2018-12-26T20:01:46Z")
Also, it would ruin jokes involving the how similar “happiness” and “a penis” sound in a french accent. ---
**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:** [December 26, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/36 "2018-12-26T21:06:39Z")
No Sean Connery jokes? Relevant to the subject, Sean Connery was in [_Zardoz_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-dOGsjRjh8) ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/37 "2018-12-26T21:23:41Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > This seems like unnecessary detail. > > When asked what is my favorite writing implement is, I reply: my pen is. The penis mightier than the sword. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/38 "2018-12-26T21:27:36Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Also, it would ruin jokes involving the how similar “happiness” and “a penis” sound in a french accent. Like in that movie! “There’s a girl in my soup.” The bellboy says “may you ‘ave ‘appiness all your life.” [![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181226/802c203cbef4f7ce7ab7db6eb75cd05a.jpg) ](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181226/802c203cbef4f7ce7ab7db6eb75cd05a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/39 "2018-12-27T18:04:39Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > So Penis is pronounced as Pee Nus > > So why is it spelt as Pee Nis ( Penis ) > > Who is responsible for this cock up:D > > Can we start writing it as Penus? > > Merry Christmas guys. Why did you spell ‘spelled’ as ‘spelt’? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645/40 "2018-12-27T20:14:19Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > Why did you spell ‘spelled’ as ‘spelt’? 🙂 Are you asking why he spelt spelt spelt? He was copying the buffalo. Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo spelt spelt spelt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-penis-spelt-wrongly/826645.md?page=3)