Etymograph

English

vagina

Vagina comes from Latin vāgīna ‘sheath’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *wāgīnā.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wāgīnā1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvāgīna1‘sheath’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1991vagina1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English vagina
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1991, Richard Evan Jones, Human Reproductive Biology: “The epithelial lining of the vagina consists of many…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wāgīnāWiktionary, English vaginareconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvāgīnaWiktionary, English vagina‘sheath’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1991vaginaWiktionary, English vagina. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1991, Richard Evan Jones, Human Reproductive Biology: “The epithelial lining of the vagina consists of many…”

Linked words

pairs

  • vagina and vanilla both from Latin vāgīna ‘sheath’

through Latin vāgīna ‘sheath’

6 more

Today it means

noun A sex organ for copulation and birth, found in female therian mammals, consisting of a passage between the vulval vestibule and the cervix of the uterus.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vagina”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *wāgīnā / vagina

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