vulva

See also: vulvă and Vulva

English

Illustration of a vulva.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvʌlvə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

vulva (plural vulvas or vulvae or vulvæ)

1. (anatomy) The external female sexual organs, collectively.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vulva

   Hypernym: genitals

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

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

• multivulva
• vulval
• vulvaless
• vulvar
• vulvate
• vulvectomy
• vulvic
• vulviform

 

Translations

collectively the external female sexual organs

• Albanian: vulvë f
• Amharic: እምስ (äms)
• Ancient Greek: αἰδοῖον n (aidoîon)
• Arabic: فَرْج‎ (ar) m (farj), حِرّ‎ (ar) m (ḥirr), فَالْفَا‎ f (fālfā)
• Aragonese: vulva f
• Armenian: բունոց (hy) (bunocʿ), ամոթույք (hy) (amotʿuykʿ)
• Assamese: যোনিদ্বাৰ (züniddar)
• Aukan: umanpeesi
• Aymara: chupila
• Azerbaijani: vulva
• Basque: alu
• Bavarian: Vulva
• Belarusian: ву́льва f (vúlʹva)
• Bengali: ভালভা (bhalbha), যোনি (bn) (joni)
• Bikol Central: buray
• Bulgarian: ву́лва f (vúlva)
• Burmese: ယောနိ (my) (yau:ni.)
• Caribbean Hindustani: boer, jonie
• Catalan: vulva (ca) f
• Cebuano: puki
• Chamorro: bebe'
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 外陰, 外阴 (wàiyīn), 陰門 (zh), 阴门 (zh) (yīnmén), 女陰 (zh), 女阴 (zh) (nǚyīn), 陰戶 (zh), 阴户 (zh) (yīnhù)

  Min Nan: 陰門, 阴门 (im-mn̂g), 外阴 (gue^7-im¹)

• Classical Nahuatl: tepilli, cocoxqui, nenetl
• Czech: vulva (cs) f
• Danish: vulva c, tissekone c
• Dhivehi: ފަރުޖު‎ (faruju)
• Dinka: mur
• Dutch: vulva (nl) f
• Esperanto: vulvo
• Estonian: häbe (et), vulva (et)
• Ewe: ɖonu
• Finnish: häpy (fi), ulkosynnyttimet (fi) pl, vulva (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: vulva
• French: vulve (fr) f
• Friulian: vulve
• Galibi Carib: mone, tu'wi, moni
• Galician: vulva (gl) f, cona (gl) f, crica (gl) f, natura (gl) f
• Georgian: ვულვა (vulva)
• German: Vulva (de) f, Scham (de) f

  Alemannic German: Vulva

• Greek: αιδοίο (el) n (aidoío)

  Ancient: δορίαλλος m (doríallos), σάραβος m (sárabos)

• Greenlandic: utsuit, utsuut pl
• Guaraní: tapypi
• Gujarati: યોનિ f (yoni)
• Hebrew: פות \ פֹּת‎ (he) (pot)
• Hindi: योनि (hi) f (yoni), योनी (hi) f (yonī), भग (hi) m (bhag)
• Hungarian: szeméremtest (hu)
• Icelandic: píka (is) ?, kvensköp ?, sköp (is) ?
• Ido: vulvo (io)
• Inupiaq: utchuk
• Irish: pit f
• Italian: vulva (it) f
• Japanese: 陰門 (いんもん, inmon)
• Kamba: kinu
• Kannada: ಯೋನಿ (kn) (yōni)
• Kazakh: сарпай (sarpay), вульва (vwlʹva)
• Khmer: យោនី (km) (younii)
• Kikuyu: kino, kitu
• Korean: 보지 (ko) (boji), 씹 (ko) (ssip), 외음부 (oeeumbu), 음문(陰門) (ko) (eummun)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: quz (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: вульва (vulʹva)
• Lao: ໂຍນີ (nyō nī), ຫີ (hī)
• Latin: muliebria n pl, pudenda n pl, vāgīna f; vulva f (chiefly medieval); cunnus (la) m (vulgar)
• Latvian: vulva f
• Lithuanian: putė f
• Lombard: trifola (lmo)

• Macedonian: сра́мница f (srámnica), ву́лва f (vúlva)
• Malagasy: fala (mg)
• Malay: vulva (ms)
• Malayalam: യോനി (ml) (yōni)
• Maltese: vulva f
• Manchu: ᡶᡝᡶᡝ (fefe)
• Maori: teke, puapua, toke (mi)
• Marathi: उल्वा f (ulvā), बाह्य जननेंद्रिय ? (bāhya jannendriy), अपत्यपथ ? (apatyapath), जन्मपथ ? (janmapath), गभ ? (gabh), कन्दर्पकूप ? (kandarpakūp), जघन ? (jaghan), योनी ? (yonī)
• Marshallese: bōļbōļ, bōlōk
• Middle English: quoniam
• Nahuatl: tepilli, nenetl (nah)
• Navajo: atsxil
• Neapolitan: vùlv
• Nepali: योनी (ne) (yonī)
• Northern Sami: heahpu
• Norwegian: vulva ?
• Ojibwe: (my vulva) nikidin
• Old English: mæġþblæd n
• Palauan: but, oldaol, uuk
• Pashto: پنډ‎ (ps)
• Persian: فرج‎ (fa) (farj), (vulgar) کس‎ (fa) f (kos)
• Piedmontese: ciòrgna
• Polish: srom (pl) m
• Portuguese: vulva (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਯੋਨੀ (pa) ? (yonī), ਭਗ (bhag)
• Quechua: rak'a
• Romanian: vulvă (ro) f
• Russian: ву́льва (ru) f (vúlʹva), нару́жные же́нские половы́е о́рганы m pl (narúžnyje žénskije polovýje órgany)
• Sanskrit: योनि (sa) f (yoni), भग (sa) m (bhaga)
• Saramaccan: kú
• Scottish Gaelic: pit f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сти̑дница f

  Roman: stȋdnica (sh) f, vȕlva (sh) f

• Sherpa: རྐུབ། (kûp)
• Shona: sikarudzi
• Sicilian: vulva f
• Sinhalese: යෝනි ? (yōni)
• Slovak: vulva (sk) f
• Slovene: vulva f
• Sotho: botshehadi (st)
• Spanish: vulva (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: umapresi
• Sundanese: ᮠᮩᮔ᮪ᮎᮩᮒ᮪ (heunceut)
• Swahili: uke (sw) 14, kuma (sw) 9
• Swedish: blygd (sv) c, vulva (sv) c
• Tagalog: bulba, pekpek, kiki, puwerta
• Tajik: фарҷ (farj)
• Tamil: யோனி (ta) (yōṉi), கருவாய் (ta) (karuvāy)
• Taos: kə́na
• Telugu: యోని (te) (yōni)
• Tetum: hu'in
• Thai: โยนี (th) (yoo-nii), ช่องคลอด (th) (chɔ̂ng-klɔ̂ɔt), หี (th) (hǐi)
• Tibetan: སྟུ། (stu)
• Tswana: bosadi
• Turkish: vulva (tr), ferç (tr)
• Turkmen: wulwa
• Udmurt: кызян (kyzjan)
• Ukrainian: ву́льва f (vúlʹva)
• Uzbek: vulva
• Venetian: potìfa, pòta, móna, marùgola, frìtola, fìga
• Vietnamese: âm hộ (vi) (陰戶)
• Vilamovian: pić f
• Volapük: kunud
• Welsh: fwlfa
• Wolof: bajo
• Yiddish: וווּלווע‎ f (vulve), שפּיל‎ f or n (shpil) (colloquially, slang)
• Yámana: wahar
• Zulu: inhlunu

Further reading

• vulva on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Dutch

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvʏl.vaː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vul‧va

Noun

vulva f (plural vulvas or vulvae)

1. vulva

   Synonyms: schaamspleet, voorbips

Derived terms

• vulvitis

See also

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

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Finnish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

vulva

1. (anatomy) vulva

   Synonym: häpy

Declension

Inflection of vulva (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation)
nominative		vulva	vulvat
genitive		vulvan	vulvien
partitive		vulvaa	vulvia
illative		vulvaan	vulviin
		singular	plural
nominative		vulva	vulvat
accusative	nom.	vulva	vulvat
	gen.	vulvan
genitive		vulvan	vulvien vulvainrare
partitive		vulvaa	vulvia
inessive		vulvassa	vulvissa
elative		vulvasta	vulvista
illative		vulvaan	vulviin
adessive		vulvalla	vulvilla
ablative		vulvalta	vulvilta
allative		vulvalle	vulville
essive		vulvana	vulvina
translative		vulvaksi	vulviksi
instructive		—	vulvin
abessive		vulvatta	vulvitta
comitative		—	vulvineen

Possessive forms of vulva (type koira)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	vulvani	vulvamme
2nd person	vulvasi	vulvanne
3rd person	vulvansa

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Galician

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vulva.

Noun

vulva f (plural vulvas)

1. vulva

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Interlingua

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvul.va/

Noun

vulva (plural vulvas)

1. vulva

Coordinate terms

• vagina

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Italian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

vulva f (plural vulve)

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

Derived terms

• vulvare
• vulvovaginale
• vulvovaginite

 

See also

• clitoride
• grandi labbra
• piccole labbra
• vagina

 

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Latin

Etymology

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

Alternative forms

• volva, bulba

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯ul.u̯a/, [ˈu̯ʊɫ̪u̯ä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvul.va/, [ˈvulvä]

Noun

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

Usage notes

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

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vulva	vulvae
Genitive	vulvae	vulvārum
Dative	vulvae	vulvīs
Accusative	vulvam	vulvās
Ablative	vulvā	vulvīs
Vocative	vulva	vulvae

Derived terms

• vulvula, volvula

Further reading

• “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

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Portuguese

Etymology

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

Noun

vulva f (plural vulvas)

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

   Synonym: (vulgar) cona

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Spanish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbulba/, [ˈbul.β̞a]
• Hyphenation: vul‧va

Noun

vulva f (plural vulvas)

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

   Synonym: (vulgar) coño

Derived terms

• vulvar

Further reading

• “vulva” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.