Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Womb |
WombNoun1. A hollow muscular organ in the pelvic cavity of females; contains the developing fetus. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "womb" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Medicine | A hollow, thick-walled, muscular organ in which the impregnated ovum is developed into a child. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The uterus or womb is the major female reproductive organ of most mammals, including humans. One end called the cervix, opens into the vagina, and the wider end, called the body of uterus, is connected on both sides with the Fallopian tubes. It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes in different organisms. In humans it is pear shaped. Some organisms such as rabbits, goats and horses have bipartite or "horned" uteri.
The uterus is located in the pelvis immediately dorsal (and usually somewhat cranial) to the urinary bladder and ventral to the rectum. It is held in place by several ligaments. Outside of pregnancy, its size is several centimeters in diameter. The uterus mostly consists of muscle. The innermost permanent layer of tissue is called the endometrium. In most mammals, including humans, the endometrium builds a lining periodically which, if no pregnancy occurs, is shed or reabsorbed. Shedding of the endometrial lining in humans is responsible for menstrual bleeding (known colloquially as a woman's "period") throughout the fertile years of a female. In other mammals there may be cycles set as widely apart as six months or as frequently as a few days.
The main function of the uterus is to accept a fertilized ovum which becomes implanted into the endometrium, and derives nourishment from blood vessels which develop exclusively for this purpose. The fertilized ovum becomes an embryo, develops into a fetus and gestates until birth. Due to anatomical barriers such as the pelvis, the uterus is pushed partially into the abdomen due to its expansion during pregnancy. Even in pregnancy the mass of a human uterus amounts to only about a kilogram (2.2 pounds).
Main pathological states are :
- prolapse of the uterus
- carcinoma of the cervix - malignant neoplasm
- carcinoma of the uterus - malignant neoplasm
- ectopic pregnancy
- fibroids - benign neoplasms
The term "uterus" is commonly used within the medical and related professions, whilst the term "womb" is in more common usage.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Uterus."
Synonym: WombSynonym: uterus (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cause | Nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed. |
Destiny | Adjective: impending; Verb: destined; about to be, happen; coming, in store, to come, going to happen, instant, at hand, near; near, close at hand; over hanging, hanging over one's head, imminent; brewing, preparing, forthcoming; int he wind, on the cards, in reserve; that will, is to be; in prospect; (expected); looming in the distance, horizon, future; unborn, in embryo; int he womb of time, futurity; pregnant; (producing). |
Futurity | Approach of time advent, time drawing on, womb of time; destiny; eventuality. |
Interiority | Contents; substance, pith, marrow; backbone; (center); heart, bosom, breast; abdomen; vitals, viscera, entrails, bowels, belly, intestines, guts, chitterings, womb, lap; penetralia, recesses, innermost recesses; cave; (concavity). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Womb |
| English words defined with "womb": Cephalotripsy, coil ♦ Embryotomy, Enwomb, Extra-uterine ♦ Fetation ♦ intrauterine ♦ matrix, Metrometer ♦ Prolicide ♦ Unavoidable hemorrhage, Uterogestation ♦ venter ♦ Wem. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "womb": Cæsarian Operation ♦ JACK IN A BOX ♦ Shah-pour ♦ U'terine. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "womb": utriculus. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Womb to tomb (West Side Story; writing credit: Jerome Robbins; Arthur Laurents) What a pleasure it is to shake hands with the womb that spilled Arthur out into the world (The Tick; writing credit: Larry Charles; Lon Diamond) Your womb is so polluted (Scarface; writing credit: Oliver Stone) Of you alone, 57,58, walking around, wearing a nightgown, your hair in a bun, maybe you're a librarian, heating up a can of soup for one, and worrying about the cobwebs that are growing in your womb. (Beautiful Girls; writing credit: Scott Rosenberg) | |
Lyrics | That was your womb (Black Balloon; performing artist: Goo Goo Dolls) Thanks for letting me bloom for your wisdom for your womb (Anything; performing artist: Jay-Z) Hiding in my room, safe within my womb. (I Am a Rock; performing artist: Simon and Garfunkel) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
William Shakespeare | These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | O! In the virgin womb of the imagination the word was made flesh |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In actuality, stroke strikes all age groups, from fetuses still in the womb to centenarians. (references) | |
In pregnant women, GBS can cause bladder infections, womb infections (amnionitis, endometritis), and stillbirth. (references) | ||
Mounting evidence is pointing investigators toward this intricate process in the womb for clues about cerebral palsy. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Dennis Miller | I know one mom who hired a soccer coach because her baby didn't seem to be angling his hips properly while kicking her from inside the womb. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Womb" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.19% of the time. "Womb" is used about 372 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) | 99.19% | 369 | 14,694 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.27% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.27% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.27% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 372 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "womb". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Cesar | N/A | Biblical | A name applied to those who are cut out of the womb |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "womb": in the womb of the earth ♦ womb box ♦ womb envy ♦ womb of time. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "womb": womb-bearing, womb-cave, womb-connections, womb-door, womb-echoing, womb-envy, womb-glow, womb-light, womb-like, womb-magic, womb-man, womb-room, womb-smelling, womb-sufferer, womb-to-tomb, womb-warm, womb-water. | |
Ending with "womb": in-the-womb, Rent-a-womb. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; 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 "womb"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | baarmoeder (uterus). (various references) | |
Albanian | mitër (mitre, uterus), gji (bay, bight, boob, bosom, bowels, breast, chest, entrails, gulf, inlet, milk), brendësi (heart, inside, interior). (various references) | |
Arabic | رِح'م (relationship), رحم (belly, matrix, touch up). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | утроба (uterus), матка (matrix, uterus). (various references) | |
Chinese | 胞 (fetus, litter, the placenta), 子宫 (uterine). (various references) | |
Czech | lùno, dìloha (cotyledon, seed leaf, uterus). (various references) | |
Danish | uterus (uterus), livmoderen (uterus). (various references) | |
Dutch | baarmoeder (uterus). (various references) | |
Esperanto | utero (uterus). (various references) | |
Faeroese | móðurlív (uterus), lívmóðir (uterus). (various references) | |
Farsi | پروردن (Breed, Encourage, Feed, Form, Harbor, Mother, Nurture, Propagate, Rear, Train), زهدان (Matrix), ابسته , رحم (Clemency, Compassion, Compunction, Matrix, Mercy, Pity, Ruth, Uterus), شکم (Abdomen, Belly, Bowel, Breadbasket, Bulge, Gorge, Gut, Kyte, Paunch, Tummy, Ventricle), بچه دان (Matrix, Uterus), بطن (Abdomen, Ventricle). (various references) | |
Finnish | kohtu (uterus). (various references) | |
French | utérus. (various references) | |
Frisian | limoer (uterus). (various references) | |
German | Gebärmutter (uterus), Uterus (uterus). (various references) | |
Greek | μήτρα (cast, matrix, mould, uterus). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שלפוחית (balloon, sac, vesicle), אם (ancestress, if, in case, matriarch, mother, on condition, providing, supposing, whether), רחם (uterus, wench). (various references) | |
Hungarian | méh (bee, honey-bee, uterine, uterus). (various references) | |
Indonesian | rahim, rahib (clement, monk, uterus), kandungan (uterus), kandung (pouh-like part of the body, uterus). (various references) | |
Italian | utero (matrix, uterus). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 母胎 (uterus). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しきゅう (a walk, allowance, base on balls, Emperor's coffin, four balls, hit a batter by pitching a ball, payment, pressing, urgent, uterus), ぼたい (heartland, mother's body, uterus). (various references) | |
Korean | 자궁 (uterine, uterus). (various references) | |
Manx | brein (hold, matrix, uterus, uterus human). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ombway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | útero (matrix, uterus). (various references) | |
Romanian | uter (matrix, uterus), sân (bosom, breast, heart, lap, teats), pântece al mamei, pântec, mãruntaie (bowel, depths, entrails, giblets, innards, inside, offal, tripe, viscera). (various references) | |
Russian | матка (dam, matrix, queen, uteri, uterus). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | utroba (belly, bowel, insides, intestines, viscera). (various references) | |
Spanish | útero (uterus). (various references) | |
Sranan | muru (uterus). (various references) | |
Swedish | livmoder (matrix, uterus). (various references) | |
Turkish | rahim (loins, matrix, uterine, uterus), rahím (uterus), kaynak (authorship, basis, beginning, birth, bottom, chapter and verse, context, font, fount, fountain, fountain-head, fund, genesis, grass roots, headspring, inquiries, origin, parent, paternity, principle, provenance, quarter, reserve, resource, rise, root, root stock, roots, seeds, source, source material, source of supply, spore, spring, weld, welding, well, wellhead, wellspring), köken (authorship, basis, bedrock, beginning, birth, derivation, descent, etymon, extraction, genesis, lineage, origin, origination, paternity, pedigree, principle, provenance, radical, root, seeds, spore, spring, wellhead, wellspring), dölyatağı (matrix, uterine, uterus). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | утроба (belly, maw), черево (abdomen, Baggie, belly, gut, potbelly, wame), матка (dam, matrix, uterus), пітьма (dark, night, obscureness, obscurity, opaque, sable), початок (authorship, beginning, breaking, commencement, cradle, dawn, dawning, day-spring, first, inception, incipience, morning, mother, onset, opening, origin, original, origination, outset, prime, proem, prolog, prologue, set out, start, starting). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | trung tâm (centre, umbilical). (various references) | |
Welsh | croth (calf), bru. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | 1. pe, arhu, ag. (various references) |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | hystera. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | gremio, gremium, utere, uteri, uterinum, utero, uterus, utriculus, venter, ventre, ventrem, ventres, ventri, ventris, volva, vulva, vulvae, vulvam. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | hrif. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Genesis Chapter 38, Verse 27 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Egeneto de hnika etikten kai thde hn diduma en th gastri authV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Instante autem partu apparuerunt gemini in utero atque in ipsa effusione infantum unus protulit manum in qua obsetrix ligavit coccinum dicens |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | When tyme was come that she shulde be delyuered beholde there was .ij. twynnes in hyr wobe. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And when the time came for her to give birth, it was clear that there were two children in her body. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Genesis Chapter 38, Verse 27 |
| Cebuano | Ug nahitabo nga sa panahon sa iyang pag-anak, tan-awa, dihay duruha sa iyang tiyan. |
| Croatian | Kad joj je došlo vrijeme da rodi, pokaže se da nosi blizance. |
| Danish | Da Tiden kom, at hun skulde føde, se, da var der Tvillinger i hendes Liv. |
| Dutch | En het geschiedde ten tijde, als zij baren zou, ziet, zo waren tweelingen in haar buik. |
| Finnish | Kun hänen synnyttämisensä aika tuli, katso, hänen kohdussaan oli kaksoiset. |
| French | Quand elle fut au moment d`accoucher, voici, il y avait deux jumeaux dans son ventre. |
| German | Und da sie gebären sollte, wurden Zwillinge in ihrem Leib gefunden. |
| Haitian Creole | Lè lè a rive pou Tama akouche, yo wè li te gen marasa nan vant li. |
| Hungarian | És lõn az õ szûlésének idején, ímé kettõsök valának az õ méhében. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Ketika sudah waktunya Tamar bersalin, ternyata ia akan melahirkan anak kembar. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Hata, maka apabila perempuan itu hendak beranak nyatalah ada anak kembar dalam rahimnya. |
| Italian | Quand'essa fu giunta al momento di partorire, ecco aveva nel grembo due gemelli. |
| Maori | A ka taka ki te wa e whanau ai ia, na, he mahanga kei roto i tona kopu. |
| Norwegian | Da den tid kom at hun skulde føde, se, da var det tvillinger i hennes liv. |
| Portuguese | Sucedeu que, ao tempo de ela dar luz, havia gêmeos em seu ventre; |
| Rumanian | Cknd i -a venit vremea sq nascq, iatq cq kn pkntecele ei erau doi gemeni. |
| Russian | чП ЧТЕНС ТП"ПЧ ЕЕ ПЛБЪБМПУШ, ЮФП 'МЙЪОЕ"Щ Ч ХФТП'Е ЕЕ. |
| Swedish | När hon nu skulle föda, se, då funnos tvillingar i hennes liv. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "womb": wombat, wombats, wombed, wombier, wombiest, womblike, wombs, womby. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "womb": enwomb. (additional references) | |
Words containing "womb": enwombed, enwombing, enwombs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Womb" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: momb, ombu, twomb, wimb, wmoa, wob, wobb, wobo, wom, wombe, wome, womp, woob, woom, Worb, wum, wumb. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "womb" (pronounced wuw"m) |
| 2 | -uw" m | abloom, assume, bloom, Blume, boom, broom, perfume, plume, presume, consume, costume, doom, entomb, exhume, flume, fume, gloom, groom, legroom, loom, reassume, resume, room, tomb, vroom, whom, zoom. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-m-o-w" | |
-1 letter: bow, mob, mow. | |
-2 letters: bo, mo, om, ow, wo. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-m-o-w" | |
+1 letter: embow, wombs, womby. | |
+2 letters: beworm, bowman, bowmen, embows, enwomb, wombat, wombed. | |
+3 letters: bagworm, beworms, budworm, embowed, embowel, embower, embrown, enwombs, imbower, imbrown, lobworm, mistbow, moonbow, webworm, wombats, wombier. | |
+4 letters: bagworms, bewormed, bollworm, bookworm, boomtown, budworms, embowels, embowers, embowing, embrowns, enwombed, grubworm, homebrew, imbowers, imbrowns, lobworms, mistbows, moonbows, webworms, wombiest, womblike. | |
+5 letters: beworming, blindworm, bloodworm, bollworms, bondwoman, bondwomen, bookworms, boomtowns, elbowroom, emboweled, embowered, embrowned, enwombing, grubworms, homebrews, imbowered, imbrowned, microbrew. | |
| 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. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Usage Frequency 12. Names: Derived from | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Bible Trace 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
