incest

[ in-sest ]

noun

1. sexual intercourse between closely related persons.
2. the crime of sexual intercourse, cohabitation, or marriage between persons within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity wherein marriage is legally forbidden.

incest

/ ˈɪnsɛst /

noun

1. sexual intercourse between two persons commonly regarded as too closely related to marry

incest

1. Sexual relations between relatives who are forbidden by law to marry; for example, between father and daughter or mother and son.

Notes

Though each society has its own system for determining the range of people who fall into this category, every society has an incest taboo of some sort.

Word History and Origins

Origin of incest¹

1175–1225; Middle English < Latin incestus (noun) sexual impurity, derivative of incestus (adj.) profane, sexually impure ( in- in- ³ + -cestus combining form of castus chaste ), by analogy with v. nouns derived with -tus

Word History and Origins

Origin of incest¹

C13: from Latin incestus incest (from adj: impure, defiled), from in- ¹+ castus chaste

Example Sentences

It soon becomes apparent, though, that the ongoing nonconsensual incest that sets an increasingly ugly chain of events in motion is of a different sort.

From Washington Post

A man buried in a huge, roughly 5,200-year-old Irish stone tomb was the product of incest, a new study finds.

From Science News

Socially sanctioned incest tends to be rare throughout history but is known from instances of royal inbreeding.

From Science News

Mating between brothers and sisters, for example, occurred in some ancient societies with ruling families headed by men regarded as gods not subject to human incest taboos.

From Science News

Only the Newgrange man, who was interred in the largest and most impressive structure, had inherited genetic markers of incest.

From Science News

Incest appears to have had in his eyes peculiar charms; for he offered himself three times to three different sisters-in-law.

From Project Gutenberg

Incest is, like many other incorrect things, a very poetical circumstance.

From Project Gutenberg

Incest was originally a requirement to make it possible for human beings to multiply.

From Project Gutenberg

Incest is common, in Switzerland especially, among the inhabitants of isolated mountain chalets.

From Project Gutenberg

Incest and infanticide are as common among them as among the lower animals.

From Project Gutenberg