Dick (slang)
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''Dick'' is a common English
slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-g ...
word for the
human penis The human penis is an external male intromittent organ that additionally serves as the urinary duct. The main parts are the root (radix); the body (corpus); and the epithelium of the penis including the shaft skin and the foreskin (prepuce) c ...
.Eric Partridge, Paul Beale, ''A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'' (1984), p. 305. It is also used by extension for a variety of slang purposes, generally considered vulgar, including: as a verb to describe
sexual activity Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) ...
; and as a
pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
term for individuals who are considered to be
rude Rudeness (also called effrontery) is a display of actual or perceived disrespect by not complying with the social norms or etiquette of a group or culture. These norms have been established as the essential boundaries of normally accepted beha ...
, abrasive, inconsiderate, or otherwise contemptible. In this context, it can be used interchangeably with ''jerk'', and can also be used as a verb to describe rude or
deceitful Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...
actions. Variants include dickhead, which literally refers to the
glans The glans (, plural "glandes" ; from the Latin word for "acorn") is a vascular structure located at the tip of the penis in male mammals or a homologous genital structure of the clitoris in female mammals. Structure The exterior structure ...
. The offensiveness of the word ''dick'' is complicated by the continued use of the word in inoffensive contexts, including as both a given name (often a nickname for
Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
) and a surname, the popular British dessert
spotted dick Spotted dick (also known as "spotted dog" or "railway cake") is a traditional British steamed pudding, historically made with suet and dried fruit (usually currants or raisins) and often served with custard. Non-traditional variants include re ...
, the classic novel ''
Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...
'', the ''
Dick and Jane ''Dick and Jane'' are the two main characters created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930 and continued in a sub ...
'' series of children's books, and the American retailer Dick's Sporting Goods. Uses such as these have provided a basis for comedy writers to exploit this juxtaposition through
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
.


Origin and evolution of the pejorative slang

In the mid-17th century, dick became slang for a man as a sexual partner. For example, in the 1665
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
''The English Rogue'' by
Richard Head Richard Head ( 1637 – before June 1686) was an Irish author, playwright and bookseller. He became famous with his satirical novel ''The English Rogue'' (1665), one of the earliest novels in English that found a continental translation. Life ...
, a "dick" procured to impregnate a character that is having difficulty conceiving: An 1869 slang dictionary offered definitions of ''dick'' including "a riding whip" and an abbreviation of dictionary, also noting that in the North Country, it was used as a verb to indicate that a policeman was eyeing the subject. The term came to be associated with the penis through usage by men in the military around the 1880s. The usage of dick to refer to a contemptible or despicable person was first attested in 1960s.


Offensiveness

"Dick", when used in many of its slang connotations, is generally considered at least mildly offensive. In 1994, the
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was he ...
upheld a school policy under which a student was prohibited from wearing a T-shirt with a
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
, reading "See Dick Drink. See Dick Drive. See Dick Die. Don’t be a Dick." The court in this case held that a legitimate goal of the school—to calm a sexually charged environment and enhance the ability of students to learn—made it unlikely that this restriction was a violation of any
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
rights. This decision was vacated the following year by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which noted that students have the right to express their views, and that the T-shirt, "though reasonably thought vulgar", did express a view. In 2001, the United States
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) published guidelines that summarized instances in which a number of media outlets had violated indecency laws when using the word "dick" in a sexual context. These included, for example, the State University of New York's
WSUC-FM WSUC-FM (90.5 FM) is a college radio station broadcasting a variety format from the State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY Cortland). The station is owned and licensed by the State University of New York at Cortland in Cortland, New York ...
, in
Cortland, New York Cortland is a city and the county seat of Cortland County, New York. Known as the Crown City, Cortland is in New York's Southern Tier region. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 17,556. The city of Cortland, near the county's western bo ...
, which in 1993 was fined for broadcasting a rap titled "I'm Not Your Puppet", which referenced "shoving my dick up this bitch's behind" in one lyric, and stated in another, "I pulled out my dick, popped it in her mouth, and she sucked it."
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
,
In the Matter of Industry Guidance On the Commission’s Case Law Interpreting 18 U.S.C. § 1464 and Enforcement Policies Regarding Broadcast Indecency
', File No. EB-00-IH-0089 (April 6, 2001).
In the same report, however, the FCC noted that in 1990, it had ruled that
WFBQ WFBQ (94.7 FM, "Q95") is a radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, owned by iHeartMedia. The studios are located at 6161 Fall Creek Road on the northeast side of Indianapolis. The transmitter and antenna are located on the northwe ...
(FM)/
WNDE WNDE (1260 AM) is a commercial radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is owned by iHeartMedia with the broadcast license held by iHM Licenses, LLC. WNDE broadcasts a sports radio format, with some afternoon talk programs, including ''Th ...
(AM) in Indianapolis had not engaged in indecency when it broadcast the line "So you talk to Dick Nixon, man you get him on the phone and Dick suggests maybe getting like a mega-Dick to help out, but you know, you remember the time the king ate mega-Dick under the table at a 095 picnic", and a parody commercial referencing a fictional
monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock p ...
called "Big Peter! Formerly the Big Dick's Dog Wiener Mobile". In January 2005, the FCC released a ruling that it would not fine broadcasters whose programs used "dick" on the air to refer to a person behaving contemptibly. Specifically, the FCC stated in its ruling: The name of the traditional British dessert
spotted dick Spotted dick (also known as "spotted dog" or "railway cake") is a traditional British steamed pudding, historically made with suet and dried fruit (usually currants or raisins) and often served with custard. Non-traditional variants include re ...
has occasionally been perceived as potentially embarrassing, prompting hospital managers at
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...
NHS Trust An NHS trust is an organisational unit within the National Health Services of England and Wales, generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several ...
(in 2001) and the catering staff at
Flintshire County Council Flintshire County Council is the unitary local authority for the county of Flintshire, one of the principal areas of Wales. It is based at County Hall in Mold. Elections take place every five years. The last election was on 5 May 2022. Histor ...
(in 2009) to rename the pudding ''Spotted Richard'' on menus, as many customers made "immature comments" about the pudding. Gloucestershire NHS Trust restored the original name in 2002 and Flintshire County Council reversed their renaming after a few weeks.


Derivative meaning

The word ''dick'' is used in the sense of "nothing", a figurative use of the sense "penis" (similar to the use of ''fuck'' and ''shit'' in a similar sense), as in "Nowadays you don't mean dick to me".


Other slang

Dick is used as a slang term for detective, as in "hiring a private dick to help locate her natural mother". This meaning may derive from the Roma slang ''dekko'', ''dekker'' from
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
''dik'', meaning "to look".


See also

*
Dick joke In comedy, a dick joke, penis joke, cock joke or knob joke is a joke that makes a direct or indirect reference to a human penis (known in slang parlance as a dick), also used as an umbrella term for dirty jokes. The famous quote from Mae West, "Is ...
* Insult * Prick (slang)


References

{{Sexual slang English profanity English words Pejorative terms for men Penis Sexual slang