vulva
/ˈvʌlvə/noun
vulva is spelled V-U-L-V-A: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,832nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, vulva means “The external female genitalia of humans and other placental mammals, which includes the clitoris, labia, and vulval vestibule/vulvar opening” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vulva is vulvas or vulvae.
How many letters and syllables are in vulva?
| Letters | 5: V-U-L-V-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 39,832nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is vulva?
Vulva appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,832nd 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).
How do you pronounce vulva?
- /ˈvʌlvə/
Vulva has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vulva.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of vulva
- vulvas plural
- vulvae plural
- vulvæ plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does vulva mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The external female genitalia of humans and other placental mammals, which includes the clitoris, labia, and vulval vestibule/vulvar opening.
- 2
A protrusion on the side of a nematode.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Vulva in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense collectively the external female sexual organs:
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 vulva come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin vulva, earlier volva (“womb, female sexual organ”), probably from volvō (“to turn, wrap around”). Akin to Sanskrit उल्ब॑ (úlba) and उल्व॑ (úlva, “womb”) or English valve, valva and other descendants of the Latin term (evolve, involve, revolve).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).