carnal
adjUS /ˈkɑɹnəl/
Etymology From Middle English carnal, from Old French charnel, from Late Latin carnālis (“fleshy”), from oblique stem of Latin carō, carnis (“meat, flesh”) + -ālis (whence -al).
1
Relating to the physical and especially sexual appetites or activities.
- At the town of Mendes, in the principal temple, there was a living male goat, with which, if the statement of Herodotus is to be accepted, naked female worshippers actually had carnal intercourse.1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 29:
2
Worldly or earthly; temporal.
3
Of or relating to the body or flesh.
- Derived terms
- carnalism, carnalist, carnality, carnalization, carnalize, carnal knowledge, carnally, carnalness, hypercarnal, noncarnal, uncarnal
- Related terms
- incarnate, incarnation, reincarnate, reincarnation