Vaginectomies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surgical procedure involving the removal of part or all of the vaginal canal
2. An operation that may be performed for various medical reasons, including cancer or severe pelvic disease
3. A medical intervention that alters the structure of the vaginal area, often impacting reproductive health and bodily functions

Etymology: "Vaginectomies" is the plural of "vaginectomy," a surgical term built from two pieces of Greek-derived medical vocabulary. The first part, "vagin-," comes from the Latin "vagina," meaning sheath or scabbard, a word that was applied to the anatomical canal by analogy with a sword sheath. The second part, "-ectomy," comes from the Greek "ektomē," meaning a cutting out, from "ek" (out) and "temnein" (to cut). Surgical names ending in "-ectomy" follow a pattern that medicine adopted from Greek in the modern period, so the combination describes, plainly, the removal of all or part of the vagina.