prurience means the quality of being prurient.
prurience is pronounced /ˈpɹʊəɹiəns/.
Why “prurience” is a great word
An excessive or unwholesome interest in the details of sexual matters. From Latin prūrient-, the stem of prūriēns (present participle of prūrīre, "to itch, to long for") + the English suffix -ence, forming a noun of quality; first attested in English in the 1680s. Unlike "curiosity," which denotes a general desire to know, or "lasciviousness," which points to overt lewd behavior, prurience is the itch of the mind—a furtive, voyeuristic hunger. It is the lingering gaze at a tabloid headline, the frisson of leaning closer to hear a salacious rumor, the deliberate rewinding of a film’s scandalous scene. It is the mind, not the body, doing the scratching.
noun
- The quality of being prurient.e.g.“There is a prurience in the speech of some.”