fetish
/ˈfɛtɪʃ
/noun
1A form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc. a man with a fetish for surgical masks a foot fetish some may have fetishes, like dressing up in women’s clothes Victorian men developed fetishes focusing on feet, shoes, and boots...
- At times, customers visited the clubs seeking gratification of certain fetishes such as the desire to interact with a dominant woman or to experience public humiliation or pain.
- I couldn't care less about his consensual, adult sexual fetishes.
- No, we're referring to that twilight world of bizarre fetishes and sexual practices.
Synonyms
fixation, sexual fixation, obsession, compulsion, mania;
weakness, fancy, taste, fascination, craze, fad;
French idée fixe
informal thing, hang-up
1.1An excessive and irrational devotion or commitment to a particular thing: men will never understand a woman’s fetish for shoes and handbags the western fetish for all things North African...
- I love fighting big people and I always had a fetish for fighting big people.
- He soon found out I had a fetish for chimneys and steeplejacks and his workshop were up a road with eight chimneys, like, and there were always someone mending one.
- He was also an alcoholic drug abuser who had a fetish for firing guns at trespassers and blowing up high explosives for the fun of it.
2An inanimate object worshipped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit.Lesser priests and priestesses serve the shrines of fetishes, minor spirits, and focus on cures and magic charms....
- When his mother sold him to white men, she told him to thank and worship the fetishes, objects believed to have magical powers by primitive people, because they will make him happy.
- Do I feel the thing that relics, totems, and fetishes are supposed to make people feel?
Synonyms
juju, talisman, charm, amulet;
totem, icon, idol, image, effigy, doll, statue, figure, figurine
archaic periapt
Origin
Early 17th century (originally denoting an object used by the peoples of West Africa as an amulet or charm): from French fétiche, from Portuguese feitiço 'charm, sorcery' (originally an adjective meaning 'made by art'), from Latin facticius (see factitious).
Before its modern sense of ‘an obsession’ or ‘an unusual form of sexual desire’, a fetish was an object worshipped in West Africa for its supposed magical powers, or used as an amulet or charm. Early European visitors used the Portuguese word feitiço ‘charm, sorcery’ for it.