kegel

After Arnold Kegel. The surname is of German origin; see Kegel (“skittle, bowling pin”).

• Audio (US):

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kegel (plural kegels)

1. The pubococcygeal muscles.
   • 1999 July 19, Hendrik Hertzberg, “The Parent Trap”, in The New Yorker:

     The parenting magazines are on a higher moral plane than the how-to-get-a-guy magazines, just as a man going home to his wife and children (or a woman breast-feeding a baby) is on a higher moral plane than a man out trolling for nookie (or a woman flexing her Kegels in preparation for a date).

2. A contraction of the pubococcygeal muscles, performed for the purpose of strengthening them.
   • 2014 July 14, Roni Caryn Rabin, “Pelvic Exercises for Men, Too”, in The New York Times:

     Done for a few minutes a day, Kegels can ease childbirth, help with recovery, prevent incontinence — even improve your sex life.

   • 2020 August 7, Cardi B, “WAP”‎^[1] ft. Megan Thee Stallion, Atlantic Records:

     Hop on top, I wanna ride / I do a kegel while it's inside

• kegel balls

kegel (third-person singular simple present kegels, present participle kegeling, simple past and past participle kegeled)

1. (intransitive) To clench one's perineum and pelvic muscles.
   • 2022 October 2, Cara Schacter, “My Year of Stress and Constipation”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     To future appointments, I wear a skirt and thigh-highs so that I can Kegel with my outfit intact.

• Gleek, gleek

From Middle Dutch kēgel, from Old Dutch *kegil, from Proto-West Germanic *kagil.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeː.ɣəl/

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• Hyphenation: ke‧gel
• Rhymes: -eːɣəl

kegel m (plural kegels, diminutive kegeltje n)

1. cone
2. bowling pin
3. (usually in the diminutive) cone cell (in the retina)

• ijskegel
• kegelen
• kegelrob

From Old Dutch *kegil, from Proto-West Germanic *kagil.

kēgel or kêgel? m

1. cone, wedge
2. bowling pin

• kēgelen

• Dutch: kegel
  • Afrikaans: keël, kegel
• Limburgish: kieëgel (suggests a form with ê)
• → Middle English: keyle, kayle
  • English: kayles
  • Yola: keillès, keilès

• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “kegel”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN