genital

See also: génital and Genital

English

Etymology

From Middle English genital, from Latin genitalis (“of or belonging to generation”), from genitus, past participle of gignō (“to beget, generate”); see genus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛnətəl/, /ˈd͡ʒɛnɪtəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

genital (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to biological reproduction.
2. Of or relating to the genitalia.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 193:

     In countless Hollywood movies we see the story of two soldiers or sailors on leave; for them the pursuit of women is simply a way of relieving a genital pressure.

3. (psychoanalysis) Of or relating to psychosexual development during puberty.

Derived terms

• abdominogenital
• adiposogenital
• adrenogenital
• agenital
• androgenital
• anogenital
• bigenital
• circumgenital
• crurogenital
• extragenital
• faciodigitogenital
• faciogenital
• genital cord
• genital cutting
• genitaled
• genital herpes
• genitalic
• genitality
• genitalization
• genitalize
• genitalless
• genitally
• genital mutilation
• genitalness
• genital organ
• genital tubercle
• genital wart
• genitorture
• hand-foot-genital syndrome
• heterogenital
• homogenital
• intergenital
• intragenital
• male genital mutilation
• male genital mutilator
• nongenital
• oculobuccogenital
• oculogenital
• orogenital
• paragenital
• perigenital
• persistent genital arousal disorder
• postgenital
• pregenital
• rectogenital
• restless genital syndrome
• subgenital
• unigenital
• ureterogenital
• urethrogenital
• urinogenital
• urogenital

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁- (0 c, 129 e)

Translations

of, or relating to biological reproduction

Asturian: xenital (ast) Bulgarian: детероден (deteroden) Catalan: genital French: génital (fr) Galician: xenital (gl) Georgian: სქესობრივი (skesobrivi) Greek: γεννητικός (el) (gennitikós) Irish: ginitiúil Italian: genitale (it) Malayalam: ജനനേന്ദ്രിയം (ml) (jananēndriyaṁ) Persian: زاداوری (zādāvari), تناسلی (fa) (tanāsoli) Polish: płciowy (pl) m Portuguese: genital (pt) Russian: деторо́дный (ru) (detoródnyj) Spanish: genital (es)

of, or relating to the genitalia

Asturian: xenital (ast) Bulgarian: генитален (genitalen) Catalan: genital Finnish: genitaalinen (fi), sukuelin- French: génital (fr) Galician: xenital (gl) Georgian: გენიტალური (geniṭaluri), სქესობრივი (skesobrivi) Irish: ginitiúil Italian: genitale (it) Malayalam: ജനനേന്ദ്രിയം (ml) (jananēndriyaṁ) Polish: płciowy (pl) m Portuguese: genital (pt) Russian: генита́льный (ru) (genitálʹnyj) Spanish: genital (es)

of, or relating to psychosexual development during puberty

Polish: płciowy (pl) m

See also

• female genital mutilation

Noun

genital (plural genitals or genitalia)

1. (rare, chiefly in the plural) A genital organ.
   • 1961, The Annual Survey of Psychoanalysis, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     ( b ) the masturbation [...] served as evidence that his genital was not injured ("fixing feet")

   • 1967, Ruth G. Newman, Marjorie M. Keith, The School-centered Life Space Interview, Six Papers:

     David told of his fears of castration and his concern that his genital was not as large as another boy's on the ward, and perhaps would never be.

   • 2013, Susan Isaacs, Childhood and After: Some Essays and Clinical Studies, Routledge, →ISBN, page 164:

     […] the anxiety and distress that his genital was dirty, disgusting and dangerous to his mother (myself); the dread of the bad internalized penis and his own faeces and urine.

See also

• genitalia

Further reading

• “genital”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “genital”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• atingle, elating, gelatin, langite, tag line, tagline

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin genitalis (“of or belonging to generation”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ʒə.niˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [d͡ʒe.niˈtal]

Adjective

genital m or f (masculine and feminine plural genitals)

1. genital

   Synonyms: genitori, generador

Further reading

• “genital”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

Galician

Adjective

genital m or f (plural genitais, reintegrationist norm)

1. reintegrationist spelling of xenital

Noun

genital m (plural genitais, reintegrationist norm)

1. reintegrationist spelling of xenital

Further reading

• “genital” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡeniˈtaːl]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

genital (strong nominative masculine singular genitaler, not comparable)

1. genital

Declension

Positive forms of genital (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist genital	sie ist genital	es ist genital	sie sind genital
strong declension (without article)	nominative	genitaler	genitale	genitales	genitale
	genitive	genitalen	genitaler	genitalen	genitaler
	dative	genitalem	genitaler	genitalem	genitalen
	accusative	genitalen	genitale	genitales	genitale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der genitale	die genitale	das genitale	die genitalen
	genitive	des genitalen	der genitalen	des genitalen	der genitalen
	dative	dem genitalen	der genitalen	dem genitalen	den genitalen
	accusative	den genitalen	die genitale	das genitale	die genitalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein genitaler	eine genitale	ein genitales	(keine) genitalen
	genitive	eines genitalen	einer genitalen	eines genitalen	(keiner) genitalen
	dative	einem genitalen	einer genitalen	einem genitalen	(keinen) genitalen
	accusative	einen genitalen	eine genitale	ein genitales	(keine) genitalen

Further reading

• “genital” in Duden online
• “genital” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒe.niˈtaw/ [ʒe.niˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʒɨ.niˈtal/ [ʒɨ.niˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʒɨ.niˈtal/ [ʒɨ.niˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʒɨ.niˈta.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: ge‧ni‧tal

Adjective

genital m or f (plural genitais, not comparable)

1. genital

Noun

genital m (plural genitais)

1. (Usually plural) genital

Further reading

• “genital” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “genital”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “genital”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French génital, from Latin genitalis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒe.niˈtal/

Adjective

genital m or n (feminine singular genitală, masculine plural genitali, feminine and neuter plural genitale)

1. genital

Declension

Declension of genital

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	genital		genitală		genitali	genitale
	definite	genitalul		genitala		genitalii	genitalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	genital		genitale		genitali	genitale
	definite	genitalului		genitalei		genitalilor	genitalelor

Further reading

• “genital”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin genitālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xeniˈtal/ [xe.niˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ge‧ni‧tal

Adjective

genital m or f (masculine and feminine plural genitales)

1. genital

Derived terms

• protector genital

Noun

genital m (plural genitales)

1. (in the plural) genital

Further reading

• “genital”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024