hymenology

English

Etymology

hymen +‎ -ology

Noun

hymenology (plural hymenologies)

The scientific study of the hymen.
- 2008, Hanne Blank, Virgin: The Untouched History, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 32:
  CHAPTER 3
  Hymenology
  Given the pronounced variations in size and shape from woman to woman, perhaps it would be more accurate to identify the hymen as a site than as an anatomical part.
- 2009, Ryan Byrne, Bernadette McNary-Zak, Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The James Ossuary Controversy and the Quest for Religious Relics, University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 146:
  It is preferable to discuss these criteria later in the chapter, however, within the context of Greek virginity and hymenology.
(countable) A treatise on the topic of the hymen.
- 2002, Kathleen Coyne Kelly, chapter 1, in Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages, Routledge, →ISBN:
  It may be helpful at this point to anticipate part of the argument in Chapter 1, “Hymenologies: the multiple signs of virginity.” Today, the primary physiological “sign” of virginity in women is considered to be the “unbroken” hymen; [...]
The scientific study of membranes in general.
Synonym: membranology
(countable) A treatise on the topic of membranes.
- 2017, Jacques Derrida, Acts of Literature, Routledge, →ISBN:
  There exist treatises on membranes or hymenologies; descriptions of membranes or hymenographies.
- 2007, Claudia Mesch, Viola Maria Michely, Joseph Beuys: The Reader, I.B.Tauris:
  Within the various hymenologies, or treatises on membranes, one finds all three of Bacon's [models.]