womb

English

Alternative forms

• wame (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English wombe, wambe, from Old English womb, wamb (“belly, stomach; bowels; heart; womb; hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *wambu, from Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, stomach, abdomen”). Cognate with Scots wam, wame (“womb”), Dutch wam (“dewlap of beef; belly of a fish”), German Wamme, Wampe (“paunch, belly”), Danish vom (“belly, paunch, rumen”), Swedish våmb (“belly, stomach, rumen”), Norwegian vom (“rumen”), Icelandic vömb (“belly, abdomen, stomach”), Old Welsh gumbelauc (“womb”), Breton gwamm (“woman, wife”), Sanskrit वपा (vapā́, “the skin or membrane lining the intestines or parts of the viscera, the caul or omentum”). Superseded non-native Middle English mater, matere (“womb”) and matris, matrice (“womb”) borrowed from Latin māter (“womb”) and Old French matrice (“womb”), respectively.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wuːm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• 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 8th c.]
   • 1971, Marc Bolan (lyrics and music), “Cosmic Dancer”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex:

     I danced myself right out the womb / Is it strange to dance so soon?

2. (obsolete) The abdomen or stomach. [8th–17th c.]
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     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 […].

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (obsolete) The stomach of a person or creature. [8th–18th c.]
4. (figuratively) A place where something is made or formed. [from 15th c.]
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     The womb of earth the genial seed receives.

   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

     The shadows of the future hours rose dark and menacing from the womb of time [...]

5. Any cavity containing and enveloping anything.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, Popularity:

     The centre spike of gold
     Which burns deep in the blue-bell's womb.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• from the womb to the tomb
• from womb to tomb
• rent-a-womb
• wandering womb
• womb-brother
• womb-child
• womb envy
• wombless
• womblike
• wombly
• wombman
• wombmate
• womby

 

Related terms

Etymologically related terms

• gambeson

Translations

uterus

• Afrikaans: baarmoeder
• Albanian: an (sq), mitër (sq) f
• Arabic: رَحِم m (raḥim), بَيْت الْوَلِد m (bayt al-walid) (archaic)

  Moroccan Arabic: والدة f (wālda)

• Armenian: արգանդ (hy) (argand)
• Asturian: úteru (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: uşaqlıq, bətn
• Belarusian: ма́тка f (mátka), чэ́рава n (čérava)
• Bengali: জরায়ু (bn) (joraẏu)
• Breton: mamm (br) f
• Bulgarian: ма́тка f (mátka), утро́ба (bg) f (utróba)
• Burmese: သားအိမ် (my) (sa:im)
• Carpathian Rusyn: ма́тка f (mátka)
• Catalan: úter (ca) m, matriu (ca) f
• Central Melanau: peranakan
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 子宮／子宫 (zi² gung¹)

  Hokkien: 子宮／子宫 (zh-min-nan) (chú-kiong), 生囝袋 (seⁿ-kiáⁿ-tē, siⁿ-kiáⁿ-tē)

  Mandarin: 子宮／子宫 (zh) (zǐgōng)

• Classical Nahuatl: nānyōtl
• Czech: děloha (cs) f
• Danish: livmoder (da) c
• Dhivehi: ރަހިމު (rahimu)
• Dutch: baarmoeder (nl)
• Egyptian: (jdt f), (ẖt f)
• Elfdalian: livmųoðer f
• Esperanto: utero
• Estonian: emakas (et)
• Faroese: lívmóðir f
• Finnish: kohtu (fi)
• French: utérus (fr) m, ventre (fr) m, (archaic) matrice (fr) f, sein (fr) m, entrailles (fr) f pl
• Galician: útero (gl) m, madre (gl) f, ventre (gl) m, seo (gl) m, entrañas
• Georgian: საშვილოსნოს (sašvilosnos)
• German: (specific organ) Gebärmutter (de) f; (specialist also) Uterus (de) m; (pregnant body as the “seat of life”) Mutterleib (de) m, Schoß (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌼𐌱𐌰 f (wamba), 𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 f (kilþei)
• Greek: μήτρα (el) f (mítra)

  Ancient: μήτρα f (mḗtra), ὑστέρα f (hustéra), δελφύς f (delphús)

• Greenlandic: illiaq
• Guaraní: (t-) ye
• Gujarati: ગર્ભાશય (garbhāśya)
• Hebrew: רֶחֶם \ רַחַם (he) m (rékhem, rákham)
• Hindi: गर्भ (hi) m (garbh), गर्भाशय (hi) m (garbhāśay)
• Hungarian: méh
• Icelandic: leg (is) n, móðurlíf (is) n
• Indonesian: rahim (id)
• Interlingua: utero, matrice
• Irish: broinn f
• Italian: utero (it) m, grembo (it) m
• Japanese: 子宮 (ja) (しきゅう, shikyū), 母胎 (ja) (ぼたい, botai)
• Kannada: ಗರ್ಭಕೋಶ (kn) (garbhakōśa)
• Kazakh: жатыр (jatyr)
• Khmer: ស្បូន (km) (sboun)
• Korean: 자궁(子宮) (ko) (jagung)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مِناڵدان (minalldan)

  Northern Kurdish: malzarok (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жатын (ky) (jatın)
• Lao: ມົດລູກ (mot lūk)
• Latin: matrix (la) f, uterus m, uterum n
• Latvian: dzemde f
• Lithuanian: gimda f
• Luxembourgish: Matrice f, Gebärmutter f, Uterus m
• Macedonian: матка f (matka), утроба f (utroba)
• Malagasy: bobo (mg), fananahana (mg), vohoka (mg)
• Malay: rahim (ms), peranakan (ms), kandung (ms), kandungan (ms), uterus
• Malayalam: ഗർഭപാത്രം (gaṟbhapātraṁ)
• Maltese: ġuf m
• Manx: brein f
• Maori: wharekano, wharekākano, wharetangata
• Marathi: गर्भाशय (garbhāśay)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: авалык (avalyk)

• Middle English: matrice, maris, wombe
• Mongolian: сав (mn) (sav), умай (mn) (umaj), хэвлий (mn) (xevlii)
• Navajo: iishchʼid
• Nepali: पाठेघर (pāṭheghar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: livmor m or f

  Nynorsk: livmor f

• Occitan: utèr (oc) m, matritz (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: чрѣво n (črěvo)

• Old East Slavic: черево n (čerevo)
• Old English: innoþ m, hrif n
• Ottoman Turkish: رحم (rahim)
• Pashto: رحم (ps) m (rahém), توملنه f (tumlə́na), زيلان (ps) m (zilãn)
• Persian: رحم (fa) (rahem), زهدان (fa) (zehdân), زاقدان (fa) (zâqdân)
• Polish: macica (pl) f
• Portuguese: útero (pt) m, matriz (pt) f
• Quechua: kisma
• Romanian: uter (ro) n, matcă (ro) f
• Romansch: madra f, uterus m
• Russian: ма́тка (ru) f (mátka), утро́ба (ru) f (utróba), чре́во (ru) n (črévo)
• Sami:

  Inari: kuáhtu

  Northern: mánágoahti, eatniheagga, goaŧŧu

  Skolt: vuõbdd

  Southern: boernesgåetie, jiemie

• Sanskrit: गर्भ (sa) m (garbha), योनि (sa) (yóni)
• Scottish Gaelic: machlag f, broinn f, brù f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: матерница f, материца f, утроба f

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

• Slovak: maternica (sk) f
• Slovene: maternica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: maćernica f, rodźeńca f

• Spanish: útero (es) m, matriz (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: bere
• Sundanese: ᮕᮤᮃᮔᮊᮔ᮪ (pianakan)
• Swahili: nyumba ya uzazi, tumbo (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: livmoder (sv) c
• Tagalog: bahay-bata, sinapupunan, matris, utero (tl)
• Tajik: бачадон (bačadon), раҳим (rahim), заҳдон (zahdon)
• Tamil: கருப்பை (ta) (karuppai)
• Telugu: గర్భం (te) (garbhaṁ), గర్భాశయము (te) (garbhāśayamu)
• Thai: มดลูก (th) (mót-lûuk)
• Tocharian B: kaläl, kātso
• Tupinambá: ygé
• Turkish: döl yatağı (tr), rahim (tr), meşime (tr), uterus (tr)
• Turkmen: ýatgy
• Ugaritic: 𐎗𐎈𐎎 (rḥm)
• Ukrainian: ма́тка f (mátka), утро́ба f (utróba), че́рево n (čérevo)
• Urdu: گربھ m (garbh), رحم (rahim)
• Uyghur: بەچىدان (bechidan), قارىن (qarin), ماتكا (matka)
• Uzbek: bachadon (uz), matka
• Venetian: mare (vec) f (of a cow)
• Vietnamese: tử cung (vi) (子宮), dạ con (vi)
• Volapük: vüm (vo), motavüm
• Welsh: croth f

  Old Welsh: gumbelauc

• Yiddish: טראַכט f (trakht), מוטערטראַכט f (mutertrakht), הייבמוטער f (heybmuter)
• Zazaki: plar n

figuratively: place where something is made or formed

• Arabic: مَنشَأ, رَحِم (raḥim)
• Azerbaijani: beşik (az)
• Bulgarian: утроба (bg) f (utroba)
• Czech: lůno (cs) n, kolébka (cs) f
• Finnish: kehto (fi)
• French: moule (fr) m, sein (fr) m
• Galician: seo (gl) m
• Greek: μήτρα (el) f (mítra)
• Italian: grembo (it) m, seno (it) m
• 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
• Slovak: lono f
• Spanish: cuna (es) f

belly — see belly

Verb

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

1. (transitive, obsolete) To enclose in a womb, or as if in a womb; to breed or hold in secret.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     she grew round-wombed

Middle English

Noun

womb

1. Alternative form of wombe