labia

See also: Labia and lábia

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

labia pl (normally plural, singular labium)

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

   Hypernym: genitals

   Hyponyms: labia majora, labia minora

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 (zh), 阴唇 (zh) (yīnchún)

  Wu: 陰脣, 阴唇 (in¹ zen¹)

• 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
• Hungarian: szeméremajkak (hu) pl
• Icelandic: skapabarmar (is) m pl
• Japanese: 陰唇 (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–present.

Anagrams

• Abila, Alabi, baila

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Latin

Alternative forms

• labea (feminine noun)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

labia f (genitive labiae); first declension

1. feminine of labium

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	labia	labiae
Genitive	labiae	labiārum
Dative	labiae	labiīs
Accusative	labiam	labiās
Ablative	labiā	labiīs
Vocative	labia	labiae

Descendants

→ English: labia

Noun

labia

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of labium

References

• “labia”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• labia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Anagrams

• Abali

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Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labia.

Noun

labia 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.

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Spanish

Noun

labia f (plural labias)

1. gift of the gab

Further reading

• “labia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014