Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Urethra |
UrethraNoun1. Duct through which urine is discharged in most mammals and which serves as the male genital duct. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "urethra" was first used: 1634. (references) |
Etymology: Urethra \U*re"thra\, noun. [Latin expression, from the Greek expression. See Urine.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | The tube through which urine leaves the body. It empties urine from the bladder. (references) |
Medicine | The canal through which the urine passes on its way from the bladder to the exterior. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In anatomy, the urethra is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. The urethra has an excretory function in both sexes, to pass urine to the outside, and also a reproductive function in the male, as a passage for sperm.The external urethral sphincter is the skeletal muscle that allows voluntary control over urination.
Anatomy
Not surprisingly men have a longer urethra than women. This means that women tend to be more susceptible to infections of the bladder (cystitis). The length of a male's urethra, and the fact in contains a number of bends makes catheterisation more difficult.
In the human female, the urethra is about 1-1.5 inches (2.5-4 cm) long and opens in the vulva between the clitoris and the vaginal opening.
In the human male, the urethra is about 8 inches (20 cm) long and opens at the end of the penis. The urethra is divided into three parts in men, named after the location:
- The prostatic urethra crosses through the prostate gland, there is a small opening where the vas deferens enters.
- The membranous urethra is a small (1 or 2 cm) portion passing through the external urethral sphincter. This is the narrowest part of the urethra.
- The spongy (or penile) urethra runs along the length of the penis on its ventral (underneath) surface. It is about 15-16 cm in length, and travels through the corpus spongiosum.
Histology
The epithelium of the urethra starts off as transitional cells as it exits the bladder. Further along the urethra there are stratified columnar cells, then stratified squamous cells near the external meatus (exit hole).There are small [[mucus]-secreting urethral glands, that help protect the epithelium from the corrosive urine.
Medical problems of the urethra
Endoscopy of the bladder via the urethra is called cystoscopy.
- Hypospadias is a form of abnormal development of the urethra in the male, where the opening is not quite where it should be (it occurs lower than normal in hypospadias). A chordee is when the urethra develops between the penis and the scrotum.
- Infection of the urethra is urethritis, said to be more common in females than males. Urethritis is a common cause of dysuria (pain when urinating).
- Related to urethritis is so called urethral syndrome
- Passage of kidney stones through the urethra can be painful and subsequently it can lead to urethral strictures
See also: Vulvovaginal health, urethral sponge, G-spot
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Urethra."
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Line drawing showing the urinary tract: kidneys, ureter, bladder, urethra and prostate of a man. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | The neutrophils are apparently phagocytizing bacteria. The paired N. gonorrhoeae diplococci is the etiologic pathogen, a bacterium that grows and multiplies quickly in moist, warm areas of the body like the cervix, urethra, mouth, or rectum. Credit: CDC. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | A blockage in the urethra. (references) | |
Shields protect the urethra from heat damage. (references) | ||
Sphincter muscles must open and shut the urethra. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Urethra" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Urethra" is used about 91 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 91 | 34,491 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "urethra"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | uretër (ureter). (various references) | |
Arabic | مجرى البول. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | уретра, пикочен канал. (various references) | |
Chinese | 尿" (urethral). (various references) | |
Czech | moèovod (ureter), moèová trubice. (various references) | |
Danish | urinrøret, urethra. (various references) | |
Dutch | papilloom van de urethra (papilloma of urethra), crista urethralis (seminal crest, urethral crest, urethral crest of female urethra, urethral crest of male urethra). (various references) | |
Finnish | virtsaputki. (various references) | |
French | urètre. (various references) | |
German | Urethra, Harnröhre (urethrae). (various references) | |
Greek | ουρήθρα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | שפכ" (penis). (various references) | |
Hungarian | húgycsõ, húgycső. (various references) | |
Italian | uretra. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 尿" . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | にょうどう. (various references) | |
Korean | "도. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ethrauray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | uretra. (various references) | |
Russian | уретра (urethrae), мочеиспускательный канал. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | uretra. (various references) | |
Spanish | uretra, de uretra. (various references) | |
Swedish | urinrör. (various references) | |
Turkish | idrar yolu (ureter), üretra. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | уретра. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | ourethra. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "urethra": urethrae, urethral, urethras. (additional references) | |
| |
"Urethra" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Arathra, ureathra, uretha, urethal, urethera, urethrae, urethro, uretra, urithra. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-h-r-r-t-u" | |
-1 letter: hurter, rather. | |
-2 letters: earth, hater, haute, heart, rater, rathe, tarre, terra, truer, urare, urate. | |
-3 letters: eath, haet, hare, hart, hate, haut, hear, heat, hurt, rare, rate, rath, rear, rhea, ruer, ruth, tahr, tare, tear, thae, thru, true, urea. | |
-4 letters: are, art, ate, ear, eat, eau, era, err, eta, eth, hae, hat, her, het, hue. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-h-r-r-t-u" | |
+1 letter: urethrae, urethral, urethras. | |
+2 letters: heartburn. | |
+3 letters: authorizer, chartreuse, draughtier, haircutter, heartburns. | |
+4 letters: authorizers, charcuterie, chartreuses, eurythermal, furtherance, haircutters, headquarter, hindquarter, purpleheart, reauthorize, slaughterer, superheater, treacherous, truehearted, unchartered, urochordate, waterthrush. | |
+5 letters: architecture, breakthrough, characterful, charcuteries, chartularies, countermarch, creaturehood, furtherances, headquarters, heartburning, hindquarters, photogravure, preslaughter, proudhearted, purplehearts, reauthorized, reauthorizes, slaughterers, superheaters, thoroughfare, turbocharged, turbocharger, unrhetorical, urochordates. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Derivations 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
