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”) or English valve, valva and other descendants of the Latin term (evolve, involve, revolve).

• 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

   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 247:

     The vulvae of the sow were popular as a gourmet's dish. Credited with erotic effects.

   • 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, no diminutive)

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).

Compare typologically vīscus (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *weys-).

• (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

   • 20 BCE – 14 BCE, Horace, Epistles I.XV:

     Nīl melius turdō, nīl vulvā pulchrius amplā.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagina (informal)

• “vulva”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “vulva”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “vulva”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2026
• “vulva”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “vulva”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

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 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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