callipygian
/ˌkæ.ləˈpɪ.d͡ʒi.ən/
callipygian means having beautifully shaped buttocks. It carries an Arena rating of 1478, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, callipygian ranks #869 of 17,052 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #973 of 17,052 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,699 of 17,052 for Most Storied Words, #2,471 of 17,052 for Most Exacting Words.
callipygian is pronounced /ˌkæ.ləˈpɪ.d͡ʒi.ən/.
Why “callipygian” is a great word
Having beautifully shaped buttocks. From Ancient Greek καλλίπυγος (kallípugos, 'having beautiful buttocks'), from κάλλος (kállos, 'beauty') + πυγή (pugḗ, 'buttocks'), with the English suffix -ian; first used in English circa 1800. Unlike 'steatopygous,' which clinically describes a prominent accumulation of fat, or the slang 'gyatt,' a blunt exclamation of size, 'callipygian' is an aesthetic pronouncement of harmonious proportion. It is the serene curve of marble in a Praxitelean statue, the deliberate composition of a classical painter's study, the ideal geometry of a ripened peach in still life—a formal appreciation of a form so often denied formality, reminding us that beauty, even in its most specific locations, has always deserved its own vocabulary.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek καλλίπυγος (kallípugos) + -ian, from κάλλος (kállos, “beauty”) + πυγή (pugḗ, “buttocks”).
adj
- Having beautifully shaped buttocks.e.g.“[…]we soon once more were in a state to renew our delicious combat; and a second course was run in the delightful callipygian recesses of Venus’s second temple of lubricity.”
- Specifically, describing a statue (often of a goddess such as Aphrodite) in a pose that shows off the figure's shapely buttocks.
Words closest in meaning
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