erotica
erotica Lexical Profile
erotica Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Literature, photography, painting, or other artistic works that deal with sexual love and desire, especially those intended to arouse sexual passion while maintaining aesthetic or literary value.
"The museum's special exhibition explored the history of classical erotica in ancient Roman frescoes and pottery."
Word Nuance & Usage
Although originally a Latinate plural noun, 'erotica' is most commonly treated as an uncountable mass noun taking a singular verb in modern English, and is often distinguished from 'pornography' by an emphasis on artistic, literary, or aesthetic merit.
• Rhymes for erotica
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-19th century from Modern Latin erotica, the neuter plural of the Ancient Greek adjective erōtikos ('relating to sexual love'), derived from erōs ('passionate love or desire').