oral stage
in the classical psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, the first stage of psychosexual development, occupying the 1st year of life, in which the libido is concentrated on the mouth as the principal erotic zone. The stage is divided into the early oral-sucking phase, during which gratification is achieved by sucking the nipple during feeding, and the later oral-biting phase, when gratification is also achieved by biting. Fixation during each of these phases is posited to cause a particular type of oral personality. Also called oral phase. See also oral eroticism.