erection
/ɪˈrɛkʃən/noun
The act or result of setting something upright
From Latin ē- (Out of) + Latin regō (To direct).
Lineage
ē-
regō
LatinGermanicnot directly attestedSelect a stage for details, or drag it
The story
Latin ērigō joined ē-, “out of,” with regō, “to direct or guide,” to make a verb meaning “raise” or “set upright.” Its family includes direct and correct: both carry the old image of guiding something along a straight course. By the early 15th century, medical writers were already using erection for penile stiffening; by the 1590s, it could also describe putting up a building. So the same word can summon either scaffolding rising over a street or a very different kind of bodily “setting up.”
Modern usage
A joking or crude reference to a penile erection
- Heard in
- sexual slang · online slang