# womb
## English
### Alternative forms

* wame (dialectal)

### Etymology

From Middle English wombe, wambe, from Old English womb, wamb (“belly, stomach; bowels; heart; womb; hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *wambu, from Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, stomach, abdomen”). Cognate with Scots wam, wame (“womb”), Dutch wam (“dewlap of beef; belly of a fish”), German Wamme, Wampe (“paunch, belly”), Danish vom (“belly, paunch, rumen”), Swedish våmb (“belly, stomach, rumen”), Norwegian vom (“rumen”), Icelandic vömb (“belly, abdomen, stomach”), Old Welsh gumbelauc (“womb”), Breton gwamm (“woman, wife”), Sanskrit वपा (vapā́, “the skin or membrane lining the intestines or parts of the viscera, the caul or omentum”). Superseded non-native Middle English mater, matere (“womb”) and matris, matrice (“womb”) borrowed from Latin māter (“womb”) and Old French matrice (“womb”), respectively.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wuːm/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -uːm

### Noun

womb (plural wombs)
* (anatomy) In female mammals, the organ in which the young are conceived and grow until birth; the uterus. [from 8th c.]
** 1971, Marc Bolan (lyrics and music), “Cosmic Dancer”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex:I danced myself right out the womb / Is it strange to dance so soon?
* (obsolete) The abdomen or stomach. [8th–17th c.]
** 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in, book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:And his hede, hym semed,was enamyled with asure, and his shuldyrs shone as the golde, and his wombe was lyke mayles of a merveylous hew […].(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* (obsolete) The stomach of a person or creature. [8th–18th c.]
* (figuratively) A place where something is made or formed. [from 15th c.]
** 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:The womb of earth the genial seed receives.
** 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:The shadows of the future hours rose dark and menacing from the womb of time [...]
* Any cavity containing and enveloping anything.
** 1855, Robert Browning, Popularity:The centre spike of gold Which burns deep in the blue-bell's womb.

#### Synonyms

* (organ in mammals): uterus, matrix (poetic or literary), belly (poetic or literary)

#### Derived terms

* from the womb to the tomb
* from womb to tomb
* rent-a-womb
* wandering womb
* womb-brother
* womb-child
* womb envy
* wombless
* womblike
* wombly
* wombman
* wombmate
* womby

#### Related terms

* gambeson

#### Translations

Afrikaans: baarmoeder
Aghwan: 𐕣𐔰𐕇 (kax̣)
Albanian: an (sq), mitër (sq) f
Arabic: رَحِم m (raḥim), بَيْت الْوَلِد m (bayt al-walid) (archaic)
Moroccan Arabic: والدة f (wālda)
Armenian: արգանդ (hy) (argand)
Asturian: úteru (ast) m
Azerbaijani: uşaqlıq, bətn
Basque: umetoki
Belarusian: ма́тка f (mátka), чэ́рава n (čérava)
Bengali: জরায়ু (bn) (joraẏu)
Breton: mamm (br) f
Bulgarian: ма́тка f (mátka), утро́ба (bg) f (utróba)
Burmese: သားအိမ် (my) (sa:im)
Carpathian Rusyn: ма́тка f (mátka)
Catalan: úter (ca) m, matriu (ca) f
Central Melanau: peranakan
Chinese:
Cantonese: 子宮 / 子宫 (zi$^2$ gung$^1$)
Hokkien: 子宮 / 子宫 (zh-min-nan) (chú-kiong), 生囝袋 (seⁿ-kiáⁿ-tē, siⁿ-kiáⁿ-tē)
Mandarin: 子宮 / 子宫 (zh) (zǐgōng)
Classical Nahuatl: nānyōtl
Czech: děloha (cs) f, lůno (cs) n
Danish: livmoder (da) c
Dhivehi: ރަހިމު (rahimu)
Dutch: baarmoeder (nl)
Egyptian: (jdt f), (ẖt f)
Elfdalian: livmųoðer f
Esperanto: utero
Estonian: emakas (et)
Faroese: lívmóðir f
Finnish: kohtu (fi)
French: utérus (fr) m, ventre (fr) m, (archaic) matrice (fr) f, sein (fr) m, entrailles (fr) f pl
Galician: útero (gl) m, madre (gl) f, ventre (gl) m, seo (gl) m, entrañas
Georgian: საშვილოსნოს (sašvilosnos)
German: (specific organ) Gebärmutter (de) f; (specialist also) Uterus (de) m; (pregnant body as the “seat of life”) Mutterleib (de) m, Schoß (de) m
Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌼𐌱𐌰 f (wamba), 𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 f (kilþei)
Greek: μήτρα (el) f (mítra)
Ancient: μήτρα f (mḗtra), ὑστέρα f (hustéra), δελφύς f (delphús)
Greenlandic: illiaq
Guaraní: (t-) ye
Gujarati: ગર્ભાશય (garbhāśya)
Hebrew: רֶחֶם \ רַחַם (he) m (rékhem, rákham)
Hindi: गर्भ (hi) m (garbh), गर्भाशय (hi) m (garbhāśay)
Hungarian: méh
Icelandic: leg (is) n, móðurlíf (is) n
Indonesian: rahim (id)
Interlingua: utero, matrice
Irish: broinn f
Italian: utero (it) m, grembo (it) m
Japanese: 子宮 (ja) (しきゅう, shikyū), 母胎 (ja) (ぼたい, botai)
Kannada: ಗರ್ಭಕೋಶ (kn) (garbhakōśa)
Kazakh: жатыр (jatyr)
Khmer: ស្បូន (km) (sboun)
Korean: 자궁(子宮) (ko) (jagung)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: مِناڵدان (minalldan)
Northern Kurdish: malzarok (ku)
Kyrgyz: жатын (ky) (jatın)
Lao: ມົດລູກ (mot lūk)
Latin: matrix (la) f, uterus m, uterum n
Latvian: dzemde f
Linngithigh: arra
Lithuanian: gimda f
Luxembourgish: Matrice f, Gebärmutter f, Uterus m
Macedonian: матка f (matka), утроба f (utroba)
Malagasy: bobo (mg), fananahana (mg), vohoka (mg)
Malay: rahim (ms), peranakan (ms), kandung (ms), kandungan (ms), uterus
Malayalam: ഗർഭപാത്രം (gaṟbhapātraṁ)
Maltese: ġuf m
Manx: brein f
Maori: wharekano, wharekākano, wharetangata
Marathi: गर्भाशय (garbhāśay)
Mari:
Eastern Mari: авалык (avalyk)
Middle English: matrice, maris, wombe
Mongolian: сав (mn) (sav), умай (mn) (umaj), хэвлий (mn) (xevlii)
Navajo: iishchʼid
Nepali: पाठेघर (pāṭheghar)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: livmor m or f
Nynorsk: livmor f
Occitan: utèr (oc) m, matritz (oc) f
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: чрѣво n (črěvo)
Old Czech: vateň m, děloha f
Old East Slavic: черево n (čerevo)
Old English: innoþ m, hrif n
Ottoman Turkish: رحم (rahim)
Pashto: رحم (ps) m (rahém), توملنه f (tumlə́na), زيلان (ps) m (zilãn)
Persian: رحم (fa) (rahem), زهدان (fa) (zehdân), زاقدان (fa) (zâqdân)
Polish: macica (pl) f
Portuguese: útero (pt) m, matriz (pt) f
Quechua: kisma
Romanian: uter (ro) n, matcă (ro) f
Romansch: madra f, uterus m
Russian: ма́тка (ru) f (mátka), утро́ба (ru) f (utróba), чре́во (ru) n (črévo)
Sami:
Inari: kuáhtu
Northern: mánágoahti, eatniheagga, goaŧŧu
Skolt: vuõbdd
Southern: boernesgåetie, jiemie
Sanskrit: गर्भ (sa) m (garbha), योनि (sa) (yóni)
Scottish Gaelic: machlag f, broinn f, brù f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: матерница f, материца f, утроба f
Roman: maternica (sh) f, materica (sh) f, utroba (sh) f
Slovak: maternica (sk) f
Slovene: maternica (sl) f
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: maćernica f, rodźeńca f
Southern Altai: бала јаткызы (bala ǰatkïzï), ич (ič), карын (karïn)
Spanish: útero (es) m, matriz (es) f, vientre (es) m
Sranan Tongo: bere
Sundanese: ᮕᮤᮃᮔᮊᮔ᮪ (pianakan)
Swahili: nyumba ya uzazi, tumbo (sw) class 5/6
Swedish: livmoder (sv) c
Tagalog: bahay-bata, sinapupunan, matris, utero (tl)
Tajik: бачадон (bačadon), раҳим (rahim), заҳдон (zahdon)
Tamil: கருப்பை (ta) (karuppai)
Telugu: గర్భం (te) (garbhaṁ), గర్భాశయము (te) (garbhāśayamu)
Thai: มดลูก (th) (mót-lûuk)
Tocharian B: kaläl, kātso
Tupinambá: ygé
Turkish: döl yatağı (tr), rahim (tr), meşime (tr), uterus (tr)
Turkmen: ýatgy
Ugaritic: 𐎗𐎈𐎎 (rḥm)
Ukrainian: ма́тка f (mátka), утро́ба f (utróba), че́рево n (čérevo)
Urdu: گربھ m (garbh), رحم (rahim)
Uyghur: بەچىدان (bechidan), قارىن (qarin), ماتكا (matka)
Uzbek: bachadon (uz), matka
Venetan: mare (vec) f (of a cow)
Vietnamese: tử cung (vi) (子宮), dạ con (vi)
Volapük: vüm (vo), motavüm
Welsh: croth f
Old Welsh: gumbelauc
Yiddish: טראַכט f (trakht), מוטערטראַכט f (mutertrakht), הייבמוטער f (heybmuter)
Zazaki: plar n, çılıç, gılıg :

### Verb

womb (third-person singular simple present wombs, present participle wombing, simple past and past participle wombed)
* (transitive, obsolete) To enclose in a womb, or as if in a womb; to breed or hold in secret.
** c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:she grew round-wombed

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “womb”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Middle English
### Noun

womb
* Alternative form of wombe

## Old English
### Noun

womb f
* Alternative form of wamb