What is a collective term for breasts, genitals and butt? (2025)

What is a collective term for breasts, genitals and butt which are areas of the body that shouldn't be shown off explicitly? I'm trying to translate the Vietnamese < word meaning > (to show those areas publicly, either intentionally or not) into English, but I can't come up with a succinct and natural-sounding expression. I also thought of "sensitive areas", but that would also include eyes and armpits.

< Vietnamese removed. Cagey, moderator >

Private areas could work.

Private parts refers specifically to the genitals.

Naughty bits...

GF..

George French said:

Naughty bits...

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Fumiko Take said:

I also thought of "sensitive areas", but that would also includes eyes and armpits.

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? Western culture does not see these areas as "sensitive".

In Western culture, only the secondary sexual characteristics (penis, vaginal area and breasts) are considered as unsuitable for public display (and even then, breasts are marginally, publicly acceptable, very few are bothered by the butt/bottom)

PaulQ said:

In Western culture, only the secondary sexual characteristics (penis, vaginal area and breasts)

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The first two thingies are primary sex characteristics (born with them).
Secondary sex characteristics develop in puberty (the third thingy).

George French said:

Naughty bits...

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Fine if you're aged 3 or under.

I'd also go with private areas

genital area

More technically:
genitalia/gonads

More colloquially [for males and sometimes women]:
my junk

ayuda? said:

genitalia/gonads

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You'd have considerable difficulty seeing a woman's gonads without a scalpel or a laparoscope.

Andygc said:

You'd have considerable difficulty seeing a woman's gonads without a scalpel or a laparoscope.

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Yup, good point…but if you ask politely…

quillerbee said:

The first two thingies are primary sex characteristics (born with them).
Secondary sex characteristics develop in puberty (the third thingy).

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Also, facial hair, male-pattern baldness, fat distribution and vocal pitch are secondary sexual characteristics, among other less obvious things like skin and hair tone...

In his book Manwatching*, the anthropologist Desmond Morris talks about taboo zones (= "an area of the body which a companion may not touch"). To reveal the private parts is technically classified among overexposed signals, subdivided into ignorant, accidental and deliberate.

*Desmond Morris, The pocket guide to manwatching, Jonathan Cape, London 1977.

bennymix said:

I vote with Donny post #8. The British expression 'naughty bits' cannot be recommended unless
the audience is British and loves euphemisms--that to others, e.g. Americanas, sound cutesy, if not prurient.

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As I hinted in post #9, I wouldn't recommend it for British folk either, unless they're aged 3, educationally subnormal, chronically posh, living in 1972, or George French.

Scatological speaking, “private parts/areas, and nasty bits [BrE] ” would most likely cover everything, but probably refer more to the genitals/genitalia—the below the belt stuff.

[IMHO] Terms like “breasts” and “butts” are usually referred to separately and in various other ways in conjunction with, and in addition to, just “private parts,” etc., some rather humorously: you only have to google them to see.

Maybe there is a cultural difference since "lộ hàng" [I'm not even goin' there] seems to include everything: breasts, butts, as well as genitalia. Besides, I don’t think anyone here in this country is that offended or shocked by butts.

Just [FYI]. Nowadays, even The Collins English Thesaurus, a very reputable dictionary, lists some of the variations of the terms, just like The Urban Dictionary also does:
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/breasts?showCookiePolicy=true
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/butt
[Not your grandma’s dictionary any more!]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=breasts
I never knew there were actually so many takes on the word. Some of them listed are just made up. But a native speaker would recognize a lot of them.
Think I’m gonna have to add another language to my list now—scatology.

ayuda? said:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=breasts
I never knew there were actually so many takes on the word.

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Try George Carlin's "Incomplete List of Impolite Words"....

Thank you all for your help.

quillerbee said:

Private areas could work.

Private parts refers specifically to the genitals.

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Damn, why didn't I think of something as simple as these.

Sparky Malarky said:

You might say something like "bathing-suit areas." That refers to the parts of the body that are covered in a bathing suit. This is slightly more formal than "naughty bits" but more explicit than "private areas."

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"Bathing-suit areas" is brilliant .

Note: "Bathing suit areas" is the kind of wording a teacher at a religious school would use
with a bunch of kids whose parents don't believe in sex education.

Fumiko Take said:

Thank you all for your help.

Damn, why didn't I think of something as simple as these.

"Bathing-suit areas" is brilliant .

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