Noun.
Pronunciation
and accent: pɔːnɒgrəfɪ.
Plural: pornographies.
Etymology: from
French pornographie;
from Greek pornographos (= writing
of harlots), analysed into porn- (= prostitute) + -graphos (= writing).
The
Spanish pornografía, the Italian pornografia and the French pornographie, are from the same origin.
1. A description of prostitutes or of
prostitution; --obsolete acceptation.
2. Pornographic
writing; prosaic or poetical writing with a description of what one or more
persons (either fictional or real) do when procuring orgasmic pleasure.
My Secret Life is a worthy pornography dated in the
year 1888 and composed pseudonymously by a certain Walter.
3. a. The romantic art
of representing erotic nudity, as in painting, photography and cinematography; artistic
representation of one or more persons being naked (or partially naked),
executed to excite “sexual” desire. b. The result of
this artistic process; the sculpture, the painting, the film, the photography,
the portrait executed by a pornographer.
4. a. The romantic art
of representing, as in painting, photography and cinematography, what one or
more naked persons (either fictional or real) do when procuring orgasmic
pleasure. b. The result of
this artistic process; the sculpture, the painting, the film, the photography,
the portrait executed by a pornographer.
The word pornography may be used objectively: if geography of America is a correct and objective construction, so pornography of Elza Brown should be, where Elza Brown is the object of the art
of filming her.
This suffix –graphy occurs in
such compounds as calligraphy, cryptography, lithography, photography,
geography, bibliography, biography, monography, lexicography, orthography,
ideography, iconography, cinematography, phonography.
