What does fellation mean?
Fellation is a noun denoting the act of orally stimulating the penis, making it one of the two principal forms of oral sex alongside cunnilingus. It functions as the formal, clinical counterpart to everyday colloquial expressions, appearing chiefly in medical literature, sex education materials, academic research, and legal texts. In modern usage, the closely related borrowing 'fellatio' — taken straight from Latin — is significantly more common than 'fellation' itself, which retains a slightly more Latinate, textbook character. Both forms derive from the Latin verb 'fellare', meaning 'to suck'. The word carries no inherent evaluative connotation: it is descriptive rather than vulgar or euphemistic, which is precisely why clinicians and researchers favor it. Its register makes it useful wherever precision and neutrality are required, distinguishing it from the many slang alternatives that dominate informal conversation.
nounFellation is the sexual act of orally stimulating the penis; it is the more formal, clinical term for what is commonly called oral sex on a male.
- Oral stimulation of the penis.
"The medical textbook described fellation in strictly clinical terms."
"The sex-education pamphlet used the formal terms fellation and cunnilingus throughout."
"In classical literature, references to fellation appear in both satirical and erotic contexts."
Rarely used in the plural; the singular typically serves as the general name of the practice.
"The survey recorded participants' reports of fellations across different relationship types."
The word descends directly from the Latin 'fellare', meaning 'to suck', and has carried its precise anatomical meaning since antiquity — the ancient Romans even had a goddess, Dea Fellatrix, associated with it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fellation
Fellation derives from the Latin verb 'fellare', meaning 'to suck', formed on an Indo-European root also reflected in words for sucking and suckling. It entered English as a learned borrowing from Latin during the early modern period, alongside the direct Latin borrowing 'fellatio'. Cognates and related derivatives include the English verbs 'fellate' and the adjective-forming element seen in 'fellator'.
Related word forms
How fellation is actually used
Fellation is a formal or clinical term, most often found in medical, academic, and legal writing; in everyday speech, less formal terms are far more common. The variant form 'fellatio', borrowed directly from Latin, is considerably more frequent in modern usage.
Easily confused with fellation
Cunnilingus refers to oral stimulation of the female genitals, whereas fellation refers to oral stimulation of the penis.