2.The word masturbation is believed to derive from either the Greek word mezea (μεζεα, "penises") or the Latin manus ("hand") and the Latin turbare ("to disturb").[2] A competing etymology based on the Latin manu stuprare ("to defile with the hand") is said by the Oxford English Dictionary to be an "old conjecture". The esoteric and little-used synonym manustupration is similarly derived from manus stuprare.
While "masturbation" is the medical term for this practice, many other terms and expressions are in common use. "Onanism" is a term with religious roots (see below). In the vernacular we find terms such as "pleasuring oneself," "wanking," "jerking off," "spanking the monkey," "choking the chicken," "beating the meat," as well as others.
