uterus
pronunciation
How to pronounce uterus in British English:
UK [ˈju:tərəs]
How to pronounce uterus in American English:
US [ˈjutərəs]
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- Noun:
- a hollow muscular organ in the pelvic cavity of females; contains the developing fetus
Word Origin
- uterus
- uterus: [17] Latin uterus ‘belly, womb’ goes back ultimately to an Indo-European *udero- or *wedero-, which also produced Sanskrit udáram ‘belly’, Latvian vēders ‘belly’, and possibly Greek hustérā ‘womb’ (source of English hysteria). It was first used in English by Helkiah Crooke in his Description of the Body of Man 1615.=> hysteria
- uterus (n.)
- "female organ of gestation, womb," late 14c., from Latin uterus "womb, belly" (plural uteri), from PIE root *udero- "abdomen, womb, stomach" (cognates: Sanskrit udaram "belly," Greek hystera "womb," Lithuanian vederas "sausage, intestines, stomach, lower abdomen," Old Church Slavonic vedro "bucket, barrel," Russian vedro).
Example
- 1. Iuds are inserted into the uterus by a health-care provider .
- 2. The uterus is a sterile environment .
- 3. He rips open her uterus .
- 4. But what about a complex organ like the uterus that undergoes tremendous change during pregnancy ?
- 5. The can also trap bacteria and yeast in the vagina and uterus underneath its thick oily coating .