vaginal

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from New Latin vāginālis, recorded from 1551 or earlier,^[2][3] formed from Latin vāgīna (“sheath, scabbard”) and the suffix -ālis,^[2][3] after Ancient Greek ἐλυτροειδής (elutroeidḗs).^[2] Etymonline, Dictionary.com and the Shorter Oxford treat it instead as formed in English from vagina and -al.^[4][5][6] The OED compares French vaginal, recorded before 1718.^[2] The Latin noun, which also meant the husk enclosing an ear of grain,^[2][4] is of uncertain origin; it may be related to Lithuanian vožti (“to cover, shut”),^[2][7] a proposal that de Vaan, quoted by Etymonline, calls gratuitous.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of a sheath, especially of the membrane covering the testicle: 1653, in William Harvey's Anatomical Exercitations.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1726,^[4][3] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 18th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word followed its base: it first meant sheathlike, and then, as vagina became the name of the female genital passage, "of the vagina".^[2][4] The OED records this sense from 1681, Etymonline from 1800.^[2][4] It was used of procedures performed through the vagina, such as vaginal delivery, from 1790,^[2] of instruments used to examine it from 1840,^[2] and of sexual activity involving penetration from 1849.^[2] In botany it described the sheath enclosing a stem or leaf stalk from 1792,^[2] while the old anatomical sense of sheathlike is now rare.^[2] As a noun, a vaginal artery, it was used from 1801 to 1915.^[2]

Timeline

• 1653 – sheathlike; of the membrane covering the testicle.^[2]
• 1681 – of or relating to the vagina.^[2]
• 1726 – first date in Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[4][3]
• 1790 – performed through the vagina, as vaginal delivery.^[2]
• 1792 – botany, of a sheath enclosing part of a plant.^[2]
• 1801 – noun, a vaginal artery (obsolete by 1915).^[2]
• 1840 – of instruments used on the vagina.^[2]
• 1849 – of sexual activity involving penetration.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or affecting the vagina: a vaginal infection.^[3][2][6]
2. Performed or occurring by way of the vagina: a vaginal birth.^[2]
3. Involving penetration of the vagina in sexual activity.^[2]
4. (anatomy) Of the nature of a sheath; sheathlike, as the membrane covering the testicle.^[3][2][6][8]
5. (botany) Relating to the sheath of a leaf or stem.^[2][6]

Noun

1. A vaginal artery or muscle (obsolete in the OED, 1801–1915).^[3][2]

Word family

• vaginally
• nonvaginal
• extravaginal
• intervaginal

Related words

• vagina
• vanilla
• evaginate
• invaginate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins