circumcision

From Latin circumcīsiō(n), from circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɜː(ɹ)kəmˈsɪʒən/
• Rhymes: -ɪʒən

• Audio (General American):

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circumcision (countable and uncountable, plural circumcisions)

2. The surgical excision of the foreskin and usually all or most of the penile frenulum.
   • 1697, Benjamin Keach, A Counter-Antidote to Purge Out the Effects of a Late Counterfeit‎^[2], page 7:

     So ſay I , did the Covenant of circumciſion, in that he that was circumciſed was bound to keep the whole Law Gal 5. 3.

   • 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 161:

     I had first to obtain a recommendation from the Assistant Resident to the Regent, and then an order from the Regent to the Waidono; and when after a week's delay I arrived with my baggage and men at Modjo-agong, I found them all in the midst of a five days' feast, to celebrate the circumcision of the Waidono's younger brother and cousin, and had a small room in an outhouse given me to stay in.

   1. (modern Judaism, usually specifically) Pharisaic circumcision.
   2. (chiefly historical or Philippines) Other surgeries involving the incision or partial excision of the foreskin or penile frenulum without total posthetomy.

      The ancient Egyptians practiced circumcision by creating a dorsal incision in the foreskin.

3. The surgical excision of the clitoral hood of the clitoris; female circumcision.
4. (often proscribed) The surgical excision of the clitoris; clitoridectomy.

Hypernym: genital mutilation (disputedly for male circumcision^[1])

• circumcision on Wikipedia.Wikipedia