Objectum

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A thing that is distinct and tangible; the physical representation of an idea or concept; something that can be perceived or identified in contrast to non-material entities
2. A concrete entity that exists independently; an item that embodies a concept or subject; anything that is capable of being observed or interacted with
3. A specific item or entity that can be seen or touched; a manifestation of a notion or thought; an identifiable and discrete element of the material world

Etymology: In the early 1970s, Eija-Ritta Eklof Berliner-Mauer, a resident of a village in North Sweden, coined the term "objectum-sexuality" for an attraction to inanimate objects. The coinage borrows its first element directly from Latin "obiectum," a thing placed before one. That Latin noun is built from "ob," meaning "before" or "against," and "iacere," "to throw," so the underlying idea is something thrown into one's path. The same Latin root also gave English "object" and French "objet." These are doublets, words from one source that entered a language by different routes, so the Swedish-born coinage shares its ancestry with two everyday words.