Vagina - vulva

In ordinary speech and writing, the two terms vagina and vulva are commonly treated as interchangeable. Although both refer to female genitalia, they are in fact distinct, and academic writing should be careful to distinguish between them.

• The vagina is an internal female sexual organ, forming a tube which serves as a passage between the external world and the uterus. It is the organ that is penetrated by a penis during heterosexual intercourse, admitting sperm, and which later, at the end of a successful pregnancy, serves as the birth canal. It cannot normally be seen.

Etymological note: vagina is the Latin word for a sheath or scabbard. In Latin, the plural is vaginae; in English, AWE recommends vaginas.

• The vulva is the name given to the external female genitalia - those that can be seen - consisting of the labia, both majora and minora, the clitoris, the mons pubis and the vestibule, into which the vagina opens. The gap between labia is the 'pudendal cleft'

Etymological note: vulva is a Latin name for 'womb', or uterus, perhaps from volvere, 'to turn over', 'to roll' or 'to wrap [in]', 'envelop'. The Latin plural is vulvae; AWE recommends vulvas for normal English usage.