Durex

English

Etymology

Condom brand name: 1929, from durability, reliability, excellence.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: Dur‧ex

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Proper noun

Durex

A Durex-brand condom in a packet.

1. (British, US) A brand of condom.
2. (Australia) A brand of adhesive tape.

Translations

adhesive tape — see adhesive tape

Noun

Durex (countable and uncountable, plural Durexes)

1. (British, countable) A condom.
   • 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 17:

     All I know is that you could, if you wanted to, find the answers to all sorts of difficult questions buried in that terrible war-torn interregnum between the first pubic hair and the first soiled Durex.

   • 2006, “Rudebox”, in Rudebox, performed by Robbie Williams:

     Pocket full of Durex, body full of Mandrex / Are we gonna have sex? Will you wear your knee socks?

2. (Australia, uncountable) Adhesive tape.

Usage notes

• Use of Durex as a generic term for adhesive tape has declined markedly in Australia in recent years as the brand is no longer sold there, and in fact the condom brand is widely available and marketed in that country (though Durex is still rare as a generic term for condoms in Australia).

Translations

condom — see condom

See also

• adhesive tape
• Scotch tape
• sellotape, Sellotape
• sticky tape
• tape

Anagrams

• redux

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dy.ʁɛks/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Durex m

1. (Canada) a brand of adhesive tape
2. (France, US) a brand of condom

Synonyms

• Scotch