Incestuousness
/ɪnˌsɛs.tʃu.əs.nəs/noun
The state or quality of being incestuous; involving prohibited sexual relations between close relatives.
Did you know?The core Latin word, *incestus*, originally meant “unchaste” or “impure,” and only later became the legal-moral term for sex within forbidden kinship lines.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
incestus
“unchaste, impure, morally polluted”
Late Latin
Latin
incestuosus
“full of incest; incestuous”
Old French
Old French
incestueux
“incestuous”
14th–15th Century
English
incestuous
“incestuous, violating kinship sexual taboos”
16th Century
English
incestuousness
“the quality or state of being incestuous”