herm

[ hurm ]

noun

1. a monument consisting of a four-sided shaft tapering inward from top to bottom and bearing a head or bust; those of Hermes usually had an erect penis, which passersby stroked for luck.

herm

/ hɜːm; ˈhɜːmə /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a stone head of Hermes surmounting a square stone pillar

Word History and Origins

Origin of herm¹

1570–80; < Latin hermēs < Greek hermês statue of Hermes

Word History and Origins

Origin of herm¹

C16: from Latin herma, from Greek hermēs Hermes ¹

Example Sentences

Publicly displayed for the first time, the tripod’s legs are adorned with carved ivory bas-reliefs of cupids cavorting around herms, boundary markers of stone pillars with human heads.

From Los Angeles Times

A herm’s original apotropaic function as a statue to ward off evil is here colonized by traditional femininity — and now runs gleefully amok.

From Los Angeles Times

He used repurposed wood masts from ships, beams from old waterfront buildings and 19th-century stencils found in his loft to make a series of enigmatic assemblages that he called herms, after the classical figures.

From Seattle Times

Five, dubbed “amorphous herms,” have only heads atop plaster pillars.

From Washington Post

Photograph: Dulwich Picture Gallery Poussin, The Triumph of PanRevellers spin and gyre round a red-faced herm, the statue coming to monstrous life as wine flushes its cheeks.

From The Guardian