labia

See also: Labia and lábia

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin labia (“lips”), plural of labium (“lip”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: lā'bē-ə
• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.bi.ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪbiə

Noun

labia pl (normally plural, singular labium)

1. (anatomy) The folds of tissue of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.

   Hypernym: genitals

   Hyponyms: labia majora, labia minora

Derived terms

• labia majora
• labia minora
• labia vulvae

 

Noun

labia

1. plural of labium

Usage notes

Though usually used as a plural, this noun is also attested as a singular with plural labias or labiae.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:labia

Related terms

• labial
• labium

Translations

folds of tissue at opening of vulva

• Arabic: شَفْر m (šafr)

  Egyptian Arabic: شفة f (šeffa)

• Bulgarian: у́стни (bg) f pl (ústni)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 陰脣／阴唇 (jam¹ seon⁴)

  Mandarin: 陰脣／阴唇 (zh) (yīnchún)

  Wu: 陰脣／阴唇

• Classical Nahuatl: pīccatl
• Danish: skamlæber c pl, kusselæber c pl
• Dutch: (-en) schaamlip (nl)
• Estonian: häbememokad pl
• Finnish: häpyhuulet (fi) pl
• French: lèvres (fr) f pl, lèvres de la vulve f pl
• German: Labia pl, Schamlippen (de) f pl
• Greenlandic: utsuit paavisa amersaat pl
• Hindi: भगोष्ठ (hi) (bhagoṣṭh)
• Hungarian: szeméremajkak (hu) pl
• Icelandic: skapabarmar (is) m pl
• Japanese: 陰唇 (ja) (いんしん, inshin)
• Korean: 음순(陰脣) (ko) (eumsun)
• Lithuanian: lytinės lūpos pl
• Luxembourgish: Schimtlëpsen pl
• Macedonian: усни f pl (usni)
• Maori: hangutu, werewere (labia minora)
• Norwegian: kjønnslepper c pl
• Polish: wargi sromowe f pl
• Portuguese: lábios (pt) m pl
• Russian: гу́бы (ru) f pl (gúby), половы́е гу́бы f pl (polovýje gúby)
• Sami:

  Inari: kunjopoksâmeh

  Northern: gudnjobaksamat

  Skolt: kunnjpõhssâm

• Spanish: labios (es) m pl, labios de la vulva m pl
• Swedish: blygdläppar (sv) c pl
• Volapük: kunudalips

References

• “labia”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• baila, Alabi, Albia, Abila

Latin

Alternative forms

• labea (feminine noun)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bi.a/, [ˈɫ̪äbiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bi.a/, [ˈläːbiä]

Noun

labia f (genitive labiae); first declension

1. feminine of labium

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	labia	labiae
genitive	labiae	labiārum
dative	labiae	labiīs
accusative	labiam	labiās
ablative	labiā	labiīs
vocative	labia	labiae

Descendants

• Languedocien: làbia
• → English: labia

Noun

labia

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of labium

References

• “labia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• labia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Anagrams

• Abali

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labia.

Noun

labia oblique singular, f (oblique plural labias, nominative singular labia, nominative plural labias)

1. (10th century) lip
   • circa 980, La Vie de Saint Léger

   La labia li ad restaurat

   He [=God] restored his lip to him

Usage notes

• The Vie de Saint Léger citation is the only known recorded usage of the term.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlabja/ [ˈla.β̞ja]
• Rhymes: -abja
• Syllabification: la‧bia

Noun

labia f (plural labias)

1. gift of the gab

   Synonym: pico de oro

Further reading

• “labia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10