Vagina in Spanish is a word that many of our students get anxious about because they don’t want to offend anyone, nor communicate in ways that they wouldn’t normally in English.
Think about it, the last thing you’d want to do when talking about girl parts or explaining the pap smear procedure is to say something crass (like pussy in Spanish… or worse) instead of vagina; and not realize it until after you’ve already offended your client.
I recently wrote a similar post on penis in Spanish, and while these are delicate topics, you appreciate the straight talk because you want to be able to use words for private parts with confidence that you’re using proper terminology.
So here we go…
The best word for vagina in Spanish:
- No question on this one, the best word for vagina in Spanish is la vagina
La vagina is the formal word, but it’s not overly formal for any situation. That said, here are some less formal equivalents to vagina in Spanish that you may hear some parents use with children:
- cueva, cuevita
- entrepiernas
- flor
- partes privadas works just fine if you’d rather not be specific
Here are some vulgar words (that you should be aware of but never use) for vagina in Spanish:
- almeja
- chocho
- concha
- coño
- mico
- panocha
Some terms related to vagina in Spanish that are common in the medical setting are:
- el clítoris = clitoris
- los labios = labia
- el cérvix (also cuello uterino or cuello del útero) = cervix
If you have to discuss female genitalia in Spanish, hopefully this post is useful to you. Also useful, is the learning medical Spanish group we run on facebook. Give it a look!
Keep up the good work speaking responsible Spanish to your patients! Check out our other books, classes & products to help you !
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I’m curious. Apparently in French, although a woman is feminine, all her body parts are masculine. From what I’ve read her in Spanish the most appropriate term for a vagina is feminine (la vagina), but the words for labia and cervix are masculine, and other words for female genitalia seem to be a mix of masculine and feminine!
Hi M.G.I’m not sure about French, but in Spanish the gender of a word has very little (if nothing) to do with the sex of an individual that the word may relate to. The gender of a word (el/la) has more to do with its etymology and its present day spelling conventions.