Pessary

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɛsəɹi/

Definitions

1. A device placed inside the vagina to support pelvic organs or deliver medication
2. An object inserted into the vaginal canal to provide structural support or release treatment
3. A tool used intravaginally to help maintain organ position or administer drugs

Etymology: The Latin "pessarium" came from Greek "pessos", meaning a round stone or a piece used in a board game, and the Romans borrowed the term for a medical pessary, a plug or suppository. The word, in its earliest medical sense, referred to something placed inside the body to hold it in place or deliver medicine, and the ancient physicians who wrote about such devices used it in exactly this sense. It reached Middle English as "pessarie" by way of Old French "pessaire", so the word has travelled through a long chain of medical practice and language. Its path is largely a story of physicians passing down a term for an internal device across centuries, with the shape and purpose of the object remaining remarkably consistent from Latin texts to English ones.