womb

English

Alternative forms

• wame (dialectal)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English (deprecated template usage) wombe, (deprecated template usage) wambe, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English (deprecated template usage) womb, (deprecated template usage) wamb, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, stomach, abdomen”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *wamp- (“membrane (of bowels), intestines, womb”). Cognate with Scots (deprecated template usage) wam, (deprecated template usage) wame, Dutch (deprecated template usage) wam, German (deprecated template usage) Wamme, (deprecated template usage) Wampe, Danish (deprecated template usage) vom, Swedish (deprecated template usage) våmb, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian (deprecated template usage) vomb, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Icelandic (deprecated template usage) vömb, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Welsh (deprecated template usage) gumbelauc, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Breton (deprecated template usage) gwamm, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Sanskrit (deprecated template usage) वपा (vapā́).

Pronunciation

• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /wuːm/
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter)

  Audio (US):

  (file)

• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) Rhymes: -uːm

Noun

womb (plural wombs)

1. (anatomy) In female mammals, the organ in which the young are conceived and grow until birth; the uterus. [from 8^thc.]
2. (obsolete) The abdomen or stomach. [8^th-17^thc.]
   • Template:RQ:Mlry MrtArthr1. Bk.V, Ch.iiij:

     And his hede, hym semed,was enamyled with asure, and his shuldyrs shone as the golde, and his wombe was lyke mayles of a merveylous hew […].

3. (obsolete) The stomach of a person or creature. [8^th-18^thc.]
   • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Jonah II:

     And þe Lord made redi a gret fish þat he shulde swolewe Ionas; and Ionas was in wombe of þe fish þre daȝes and þre niȝtis.

4. (figuratively) A place where something is made or formed. [from 15^thc.]
   • Dryden

     The womb of earth the genial seed receives.

5. Any cavity containing and enveloping anything.
   • Robert Browning

     The centre spike of gold / Which burns deep in the bluebell's womb.

Synonyms

• (organ in mammals): uterus, matrix (poetic or literary), belly (poetic or literary)

Translations

uterus

• Afrikaans: baarmoeder
• Albanian: mitër
• Arabic: رحم m (raḥim)

  Egyptian Arabic: رحم m (raḥem), بيت الولد m (bét el wéld) (archaic)

• Armenian: արգանդ (hy) (argand)
• Asturian: úteru (ast) m
• Azeri: uşaqlıq
• Belarusian: ма́тка f (mátka), чэ́рава n (čérava)
• Bengali: জরায়ু (jôrayu)
• Bulgarian: ма́тка f (mátka), утро́ба (bg) f (utróba)
• Burmese: သားအိမ် (my) (sa:im)
• Catalan: úter m, matriu f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 子宮／子宫 (zh) (zǐgōng), 子宫 (zh) (zǐgōng)

• Czech: děloha (cs) f
• Danish: livmoder (da) c
• Dutch: baarmoeder (nl)
• Esperanto: utero
• Estonian: emakas
• Finnish: kohtu (fi)
• French: utérus (fr) m, ventre (fr) m, (archaic) matrice (fr) f
• Galician: útero (gl) m
• Georgian: საშვილოსნოს (sašvilosnos)
• German: Mutterleib m, Gebärmutter (de) f, Schoß (de) m, Uterus (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌼𐌱𐌰 f (wamba)
• Greek: μήτρα (el) f (mítra)

  Ancient:

• Guaraní: (t-) ye
• Gujarati: ગર્ભાશય (garbhāśay)
• Hebrew: רחם (he) m
• Hindi: गर्भ m (garbh), गर्भाशय (garbhāśay)
• Hungarian: méh (hu)
• Icelandic: leg (is) n, móðurlíf (is) n
• Indonesian: rahim (id)
• Interlingua: utero, matrice
• Italian: utero (it) m, grembo (it) m
• Japanese: 子宮 (しきゅう, shikyū), 母胎 (ぼたい, botai)
• Kannada: ಗರ್ಭಕೋಶ (kn) (garbhakoś)
• Kazakh: жатыр (jatyr)
• Khmer: ស្បូន (km) (sboon)
• Korean: 자궁 (ko) (jagung) (子宮 (ko))
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ມົດລູກ (mot lūk)
• Latin: uterus m, uterum n
• Latvian: dzemde
• Lithuanian: gimda f
• Macedonian: матка f (matka), утроба f (utroba)
• Malagasy: bobo (mg), fananahana (mg), vohoka (mg)
• Malay: rahim, uterus, peranakan, peranakan, uterus
• Malayalam: ഗർഭപാത്രം (gaṟbhapātraṁ)
• Maltese: ġuf m
• Northern Sami: mánágoahti, eatniheagga, goaŧŧu
• Old Church Slavonic: чрѣво n (črěvo)
• Persian: رحم (fa) (rahem), زهدان (fa) (zehdân)
• Polish: macica (pl) f
• Portuguese: útero (pt) m, matriz (pt) f
• Romanian: uter (ro) n, matcă (ro) f
• Russian: ма́тка (ru) f (mátka), утро́ба (ru) f (utróba), чре́во (ru) n (črévo)
• Sanskrit: गर्भ m (garbha)
• Scottish Gaelic: machlag f, broinn f, brù f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: матерница f, материца f, утроба f

  Roman: maternica (sh) f, materica f, utroba (sh) f

• Slovak: maternica f
• Slovene: maternica (sl) f
• Spanish: útero (es) m, matriz (es) f
• Swahili: uzazi (sw)
• Swedish: livmoder (sv) c
• Tagalog: bahay-bata, sinapupunan, matris, utero (tl)
• Tamil: கருப்பை (ta) (karuppai)
• Telugu: గర్భం (te) (garbhaṁ), గర్భాశయము (te) (garbhāśayamu)
• Thai: มดลูก (mót lôok)
• Tupinambá: ygé
• Turkish: rahim (tr), dölyatağı (tr), uterus
• Ukrainian: ма́тка f (mátka), утро́ба f (utróba), чре́во n (črévo)
• Urdu: گربھ m (garbh)
• Vietnamese: tử cung (vi) (子宮), dạ con
• Volapük: vüm (vo)
• Welsh: croth f

  Old Welsh: gumbelauc

• Yiddish: טראכט (trakht)

figuratively: place where something is made or formed

• Czech: lůno (cs) n, kolébka f
• Finnish: kehto (fi)
• French: moule (fr) m
• Greek: μήτρα (el) f (mítra)
• Italian: grembo (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: łono (pl) n
• Portuguese: útero (pt) m
• Russian: ло́но (ru) n (lóno), чре́во (ru) n (črévo), колыбе́ль (ru) f (kolybélʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: broinn f

belly — see belly

Verb

womb (third-person singular simple present wombs, present participle wombing, simple past and past participle wombed)

1. (deprecated template usage) (obsolete) To enclose in a womb, or as if in a womb; to breed or hold in secret.

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