callipygian

English

Venus Callipige statue.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek καλλίπυγος (kallípugos) + -ian, from κάλλος (kállos, beauty) + πυγή (pugḗ, buttocks).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌkæ.ləˈpɪ.dʒi.ən/
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /ˌkælɪˈpɪdʒi.ən/, /ˌkæliˈpɪdʒjən/, /ˌkæləˈpɪdʒi.ən/, /ˌkæləˈpɪdʒjən/

Adjective

callipygian (comparative more callipygian, superlative most callipygian)

  1. Having beautifully shaped buttocks.
    • 1918, Frances Douglas (translator), Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Sónnica, Duffield & Company, page 131:
      Suddenly the music grew fainter, as if drawing away, and the dancers, their feet together and limbs half opened, descended in a slow spiral, with gentle undulations, until they touched the floor; the instant their callipygian charms grazed the mosaic, they recoiled like suddenly awakened serpents, [...]
    • 2006, Geoffrey Brock (translator), Umberto Eco (author), The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 246:
      Her gown (perhaps as a result of the scorching winds coming off the ambas) clung damply to her body, clearly revealing her callipygian curves and the entire shapely length of her legs.
    • 2007, Ryan North, Dinosaur Comics, from the comic strip on May 22:
      [T-Rex:] My lovely visage, callipygian frame, startlingly awesome calves and charming smile will yet go down in history!
    • 2008, Conrad Black, "A nation seeking a hero," National Post (Canada), 12 January:
      With trepidation, but not embarrassment, I offer the thought that Mrs. Obama, a formerly disadvantaged alumna of Princeton and Harvard, to judge from her well-strategized appearances on national television in exiguous dresses and trousers, is as callipygian as Jennifer Lopez.

Synonyms

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See also

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