amplexus

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin amplexus (“embrace”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛksəs

Noun

amplexus (uncountable)

1. (zoology) A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.

   Synonyms: amplection / amplexion (dated, uncommon), amplexation (dated, uncommon)

   • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 1, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company:

     Finally, we came upon a pair of Panamanian robber frogs locked in amplexus—the amphibian version of sex.

   • 2018 March 29, Ed Douglas, “Country diary: tantric embraces and nuptial pads – the secrets of frog sex revealed”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 October 2026:

     In the middle, just below the surface, a male and a female were locked in amplexus, a coupling that can last for days as the male waits to fertilise the eggs when they are laid.

2. (botany) In vernation, the situation where two sides of one leaf overlap the two sides of the one above it.

Related terms

• amplect
• amplection, amplexion
• amplex
• amplexation
• amplexus reservatus

Translations

pseudocopulation in which a male grasps a female with his front legs

• Polish: ampleksus (pl) m
• Portuguese: amplexo (pt) m

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [amˈpɫɛk.sʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [amˈplɛk.sus]

Etymology 1

Perfect active participle of amplector (“surround; grasp”).

Participle

amplexus (feminine amplexa, neuter amplexum); first/second-declension participle

1. having surrounded, encircled, entwined
2. having embraced, clasped, grasped
3. having esteemed
4. having cherished

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	amplexus	amplexa	amplexum		amplexī	amplexae	amplexa
genitive	amplexī	amplexae	amplexī		amplexōrum	amplexārum	amplexōrum
dative	amplexō	amplexae	amplexō		amplexīs
accusative	amplexum	amplexam	amplexum		amplexōs	amplexās	amplexa
ablative	amplexō	amplexā	amplexō		amplexīs
vocative	amplexe	amplexa	amplexum		amplexī	amplexae	amplexa

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Latin amplector

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Italic *-tus

Latin -tus

Latin amplexus

From amplector + -tus (forming action nouns).

Noun

amplexus m (genitive amplexūs); fourth declension

1. clasp, embrace
2. a loving embrace, caress (mostly in the plural)
   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 6.553–554:

     ūna ministrārum solita est, Cadmēī, tuārum
     saepe sub amplexūs coniugis īre tuī.

     It had been the habit of one of your serving-women, [daughter] of Cadmus, often to go under the embraces of your husband.
     (The daughter of Cadmus is Ino (mythology).)

3. coil
4. circumference

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	amplexus	amplexūs
genitive	amplexūs	amplexuum
dative	amplexuī	amplexibus
accusative	amplexum	amplexūs
ablative	amplexū	amplexibus
vocative	amplexus	amplexūs

Descendants

• English: amplexus

References

• “amplexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “amplexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “amplexus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.