Viscerotonic

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌvɪsəɹə(ʊ)ˈtɒnɪk/

Definitions

1. A body type characterized by a love of comfort, sociability, relaxation, and physical pleasure, typically associated with a rounded physique
2. A physique type that emphasizes comfort, social interaction, and enjoyment of life, commonly identified by a more rounded body structure
3. A physical constitution marked by a preference for pleasure, ease, and sociability, often linked to a corpulent shape

Etymology: William Herbert Sheldon, the American psychologist, invented this term in the 1940s as part of his effort to classify human body types. He built his scheme on three components, and the viscerotonic was the one tied to the digestive organs and the gut. Sheldon's central claim was that a person's physique reflected a temperament, so a body built around the viscera was expected to show a relaxed, comfort-loving, sociable disposition. The word is a compound of "viscero-", from Latin "viscera" meaning internal organs, and "tonic", from Greek "tonikos" relating to stretching or tension, which in medical use describes a body's sustained muscle or organ tone. Sheldon combined them to name a temperament he believed was visible in the body's rounded, soft-bodied shape. The pairing is a technical coinage, not an ancient term, and it belongs entirely to twentieth-century psychology.