smegma
/ˈsmɛɡmə/noun
smegma is a noun meaning “A whitish sebaceous secretion that collects between the glans penis and foreskin or in the vulva” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-M-E-G-M-A, and it appears about once in every 17 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of smegma is smegmata or smegmas.
What does smegma mean?
noun
- 1
A whitish sebaceous secretion that collects between the glans penis and foreskin or in the vulva.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce smegma?
- /ˈsmɛɡmə/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-smegma.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of smegma
- smegmata plural
- smegmas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is smegma?
Smegma appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 122,704th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Smegma in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sebaceous secretion:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does smegma come from?
From Latin, borrowed from Ancient Greek σμῆγμα (smêgma), alternative form of σμῆμα (smêma, “soap, detergent”), from σμάω (smáō, “to wipe, clean”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).