vagina English · revision 39395

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1612, translation of J. Guillemeau's Child-birth|origins=la vāgīna}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vəˈdʒaɪ.nə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-new|vagina]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) the anatomical use of [[la|vāgīna|t=sheath, scabbard; husk of an ear of grain]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) The OED, revising the entry in 2019, also names [[fr|vagina]] (now [[m|fr|vagin]]) as a source, because the first English example translates a French text of 1609.^(OED 2026) The Latin word is of uncertain origin: it may be related to [[lt|vožti|t=to cover with a hollow thing]], from [[ine-pro|*wāg-|t=sheath]], according to Barnhart following Pokorny, or it may be a loanword;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)^(OED 2026) Etymonline quotes de Vaan calling the Lithuanian comparison "a gratuitous proposal".^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The passage leading from the vulva to the uterus: 1612, in an English translation of J. Guillemeau's ''Child-birth''.^(OED 2026) Merriam-Webster dates it to 1653, and Barnhart and OED 1989 to 1682.^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word kept some of its Latin sense of "sheath": from 1683 it named sheathing parts of animals, from 1698 a sheath around a plant stem, and in 1728 the lower part of a statue from which the figure seems to rise.^(OED 2026) In zoology it was extended to similar organs of other animals (1721).^(OED 2026) A looser colloquial use for the external genitals as well dates from about 1890.^(OED 2026) The adjective [[vaginal]] (1726) first meant "of a sheath".^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1612 – in anatomy, the female genital canal.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1683 – a sheathing part of an animal (obsolete by 1871).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1698 – in botany, a sheath around a stem.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1721 – a similar organ in other animals.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1726 – ''vaginal'', sheathlike.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1890 – colloquially, the external genitals too.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1908 – ''vagina dentata'', in anthropology and psychology.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # In female mammals, the [[canal]] leading from the [[cervix]] of the [[uterus]] to the outside of the body.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (colloquial) The female external genitals together with this canal.^(OED 2026)

+ # (anatomy, botany) A sheathlike part, such as a leaf base that wraps around a stem.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vaginosis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[invaginate]]

+ * [[vaginal]]

+ * [[vaginate]]

+ * [[vaginismus]]

+ * [[vanilla]]

+ * [[evaginate]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural is ''vaginas'' or, more technically, ''vaginae''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024) [[vanilla|alt=Vanilla]] is the same word: it is Spanish ''vainilla'', "little sheath", a diminutive of ''vaina'' "sheath", which descends from Latin ''vāgīna''.^(Ayto 2005)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}