virginity

English

Etymology

From Middle English virginite, from Old French virginite, from Latin virginitas. Equivalent to virgin +‎ -ity. Displaced native Old English mæġþhād, originally meaning “girlhood.”

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /və(ɹ)ˈdʒɪnɪti/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnɪti

Noun

virginity (countable and uncountable, plural virginities)

1. The state or characteristic of being a virgin.

   Synonyms: maidenhood, maidenhead, (female) maidhood, (euphemistic, general) V card, (informal) cherry

   to lose one's virginity

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1962, page 128:

     She had a lot of dark hair pinned untidily back from a small well-formed brow, and her tilted nose and large embarrassed eyes had survived intact from the mistrusts and agitations of a schoolgirl, which maturity had striven to defeat by lengthening her chin and tightening her lips, while giving her skin the faintly furred matt surface of pickled virginity.

Derived terms

• butt virginity
• lose one's virginity
• nonvirginity
• other virginity
• second virginity
• virginity pledge

 

Translations

state or characteristic of being a virgin

• Albanian: virgjëri (sq) f
• Arabic: بَكَارَة‎ f (bakāra), بَتُولِيَّة‎ f (batūliyya)
• Armenian: կուսություն (hy) (kusutʿyun)
• Aromanian: virghireatsã f
• Asturian: virxinidá f
• Azerbaijani: bakirəlik, bəkarət, qızlıq
• Belarusian: дзяво́цкасць f (dzjavóckascʹ), цно́та f (cnóta), цнатлі́васць f (cnatlívascʹ)
• Bulgarian: де́вственост (bg) f (dévstvenost)
• Catalan: virginitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 處女性 (zh), 处女性 (zh) (chùnǚxìng), 童貞 (zh), 童贞 (zh) (tóngzhēn)

• Czech: panenství (cs) n
• Dutch: maagdelijkheid (nl) f
• Estonian: neitsilikkus
• Finnish: neitsyys (fi)
• French: virginité (fr) f
• Galician: virxinidade f
• Georgian: სიმწვანე (simc̣vane), ქალწულება (kalc̣uleba), ქალიშვილობა f (kališviloba), ვაჟიშვილობა m (važišviloba)
• German: Jungfräulichkeit (de) f, Virginität (de) f (applies to either gender), Unschuld (de) f (applies to women)
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌸𐌴𐌹 f (magaþei)
• Greek: παρθενία (el) f (parthenía)

  Ancient: παρθενία f (parthenía)

• Hebrew: בְּתוּלִים‎ (he) m pl (b'tulím)
• Interlingua: virginitate
• Irish: maighdeanas m, ócht f
• Italian: verginità (it) f, pulcellaggio m
• Japanese: 処女 (ja) (shojo), 処女性 (shojosei), 童貞 (ja) (dōtei) (man's virginity)

• Khmer: ព្រហ្មចារីភាព (prumcaarəy pʰiep)
• Latin: virginitās f
• Latvian: jaunavība f
• Lithuanian: nekaltýbė f
• Malay: dara (ms), keperawanan
• Manx: moidynys f
• Maori: puhinga, wāhinatanga
• Old English: mæġþhād m
• Old Occitan: virginitad
• Persian: باکرگی‎ (bâkeregi), بکارت‎ (fa) (bakârat)
• Polish: panieństwo (pl) n, dziewictwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: virgindade (pt) f
• Romanian: virginitate (ro) f, feciorie (ro) f
• Russian: де́вственность (ru) f (dévstvennostʹ), неви́нность (ru) f (nevínnostʹ), непоро́чность (ru) f (neporóčnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: maighdeannas m, òigheachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не̏вӣно̄ст f

  Roman: nȅvīnōst (sh) f

• Slovak: panenstvo n
• Slovene: devištvo n
• Spanish: virginidad (es), doncellez f
• Swedish: oskuld (sv) c, (of a woman) jungfrudom (sv) c, (of a woman) mödom c, (of a man) svendom (sv) c
• Telugu: కన్నెరికం (te) (kannerikaṁ)
• Thai: พรหมจรรย์ (prom-má-jan)
• Turkish: bakirlik (tr) (male), bakirelik (tr) (female), bekâret (tr), kızlık (tr) (female)
• Ukrainian: цно́та (uk) f (cnóta), неза́йманість (uk) f (nezájmanistʹ), цнотли́вість (uk) f (cnotlývistʹ)