vulva

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva, earlier volva (“womb, female sexual organ”), probably from volvō (“to turn, wrap around”). Akin to Sanskrit उल्ब (úlba, “womb”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvʌlvə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlvə

vulva (plural vulvas or vulvae or vulvæ)

2. (anatomy) The external female genitalia of humans and other placental mammals, which includes the clitoris, labia, and vulval vestibule/vulvar opening.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vulva

   Hypernym: genitals

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 22:

     The wedge-shaped character was the triangle, the archaic Paleolithic sign of the vulva; the pubic triangle was at the end of the phallic stylus.

   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 216:

     Many of the less-sophisticated works are sexual in nature. Among the most common images are stylised vulvas, whole flocks of which appear on some cave walls.

3. (biology) A protrusion on the side of a nematode.

See usage notes at vagina for the difference between vulva and vagina.

• genital tubercle (clitoris), urogenital sinus (vulval vestibule), urogenital folds (labia minora), labioscrotal swellings (labia majora) - embryological precursors
• external genitalia

• vulva on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvʏl.vaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vul‧va

vulva f (plural vulvas or vulvae)

1. vulva

   Synonyms: kut, miemel, schaamspleet, voorbips

• vulvitis

• vagina (in specialist language the same sense as English vagina, but in colloquial language synonymous with vulva)

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋulʋɑ/, [ˈʋulʋɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ulʋɑ
• Syllabification^(key): vul‧va
• Hyphenation^(key): vul‧va

vulva

1. (anatomy) vulva

   Synonym: häpy

• “vulva”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 4 July 2023

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva.

vulva f (plural vulvas)

1. vulva

Borrowed from Latin vulva, Italian vulva, English vulva, Spanish vulva, Portuguese vulva, French vulve.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvul.va/

vulva (plural vulvas)

1. vulva

• vagina

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva, from earlier volva, from the Proto-Indo-European root *welH- (“to turn, wind”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈvul.va/
• Rhymes: -ulva
• Hyphenation: vùl‧va

vulva f (plural vulve)

1. (anatomy) the external female genitalia; vulva
2. (by extension, slang, humorous) vagina

• volva, vulba, bulba

From Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind”). Cognates include Sanskrit उल्ब (ulba).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwʊɫ.wa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvul.va]

vulva f (genitive vulvae); first declension

1. (anatomy) the womb

   Synonyms: mātrīx, uterus

2. (anatomy, chiefly Medieval Latin) the vagina (the external orifice of the female reproductive tract)

   Synonyms: (euphemistic) vāgīna, (vulgar) cunnus, (medieval) valva

   Holonyms: verētrum, muliebria, pudenda, verenda, genitālia, partēs, membra, nātūra

• Unlike its English descendant, refers to the vagina (the internal tract) and not to the vulva (the external genitals), even medievally.

First-declension noun.

• vulvula, volvula

• “uulua” on page 2341 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• “vulva”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vulva in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva, from earlier volva, from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind”).

• Hyphenation: vul‧va

vulva f (plural vulvas)

1. (anatomy) vulva (the external female sexual organs)

   Synonym: (vulgar) cona

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva, from earlier volva, from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbulba/ [ˈbul.β̞a]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ulba
• Syllabification: vul‧va

vulva f (plural vulvas)

1. (anatomy) vulva (the external female sexual organs)

• “vulva”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

vulva c

1. (anatomy) vulva (the external female sex organs)

   Synonyms: blygd, underliv

• blygdläppar (“labia”)
• urinrör (“urethra”)
• vagina

• vulva in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• vulva in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• vulva in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH
• Fula Ordboken