vagina English Wikipedia has an article on: Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vāgīna (“sheath”).

Pronunciation

enPR: vəjī ʹ nə , IPA (key) : /vəˈdʒaɪnə/

, IPA : Audio (US)

Rhymes: -aɪnə

Hyphenation: va‧gi‧na

Noun

vagina (plural vaginas or vaginae or vaginæ)

( anatomy ) The passage leading from the opening of the vulva to the cervix of the uterus for copulation and childbirth in female mammals. see Thesaurus: vagina 1991, Mark M. Jones, Human Reproductive Biology (page 61) The epithelial lining of the vagina consists of many layers of flattened cells. Changes in the condition of these cells during the menstrual cycle can be detected by swabbing the lining and looking at the cells under a microscope. ( zoology ) A similar part in some invertebrates. ( botany ) A sheath-like structure, such as the leaf of a grass that surrounds a stem. sheath ( colloquial ) The vulva. see Thesaurus: vulva For quotations using this term, see Citations:vagina

Usage notes

In technical discussions of anatomy, the vagina is a wholly internal structure and the vulva is wholly external, but in common use (since at least the 1930s),[1] vagina can refer to the vulva or function as a general term for the entire genitalia.

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

zoological sense Catalan: vagina (ca) f Czech: vagina (cs) f

— see vulva vulva

References

^ Women’s Sexual Development: Explorations of Inner Space (2012), notes explicitly that a psychiatrist character played by a real psychiatrist uses it this way in the 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and also cites another use from 1970. Besides these examples from the 1930s onward , Martha Kirkpatrick, in(2012), notes explicitly that a psychiatrist character played by a real psychiatrist uses it this way in the 1969 film, and also cites another use from 1970.