Etymology... maybe?
edit1706, traditionally named for a British physician during reign of Charles II, but there is no evidence for that. Also spelled condam, quondam, which suggests it may be from It. guantone, from guanto "a glove." --70.112.108.51 03:32, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
I removed this section of the definition because it was redundant and because I wasn't sure of it's accuracy:
- and to prevent transmitting sexually transmittable diseases and pregnancy.
If memory serves, a condom is for birth control only and not for prevention of STD; I mean, can you not still get AIDS even with condom use? Let's be 100% sure before putting this back in the definition, please. --Stranger 03:18, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Indeed, you can, but it's mainly due to a bad condom usage. There're currently ads in France telling to use condoms to avoid AIDS.
- Condoms are definitely recommended to avoid STDs like AIDS. Otherwise, gay men wouldn't be constantly being told to use condoms in anal sex; they're hardly going to get anyone pregnant that way. —Angr 16:03, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
Another idea
editIt just occurred to me that a few words starting with con- have the prefix be- in Dutch with a similar word. Such as conjure - bezweren (zweren = to swear, like swearing an oath such as a 'jury'). So I'm just stating this off the top of my head here, but couldn't 'condom' be from con- and 'domus'? A housing (behuizing in Dutch)? Does kinda make sense to me, but of course I'm no expert.
missing sense
editWe are missing the female condom sense. ---> Tooironic 00:36, 24 June 2010 (UTC)
indirect definition
editI find it amusing that the definition currently given does not mention sex. Presumably an alien would assume men wear condoms all year long as a general precautionary measure. ---> Tooironic 13:43, 12 June 2011 (UTC)
I've made some tweaks to the definition now. ---> Tooironic (talk) 00:49, 20 November 2012 (UTC)