Genitals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The organs responsible for sexual reproduction and characteristic functions in humans and many animals, comprised of both internal and external anatomical features
2. The anatomical structures involved in sexual reproduction and function in males and females, consisting of interrelated internal and external components
3. The body parts associated with reproductive functions in various species, including both the visible external and concealed internal features

Etymology: The Latin root behind "genitals" is "gignere", "to beget" or "to produce", and the adjective "genitalis" meant "pertaining to generation or birth." The Latin plural neuter "genitalia" was used as a noun, so "membra genitalia" ("generative members") described the reproductive organs. English borrowed the term as a learned word, and its first recorded use appears in 1651, in Thomas Mocket's Christmas, where it describes the parts Saturn cut from his father Caelus and threw into the sea, a myth-laden setting that shows the word was already being used for the organs of generation. "Genitals" is simply a shortened form of "genitalia," the plural noun that has been treated as a singular-sounding word in English. The sense has stayed close to its Latin origin: it still refers to the organs of reproduction, with the idea of generation carried straight through from "gignere."

Synonyms: reproductive organs, private parts