virgo-, virg-, virgi-

(Latin: a marriageable girl, maiden; related to "a young shoot, a twig")

devirginate
1. To deprive of virginity; to deflower, to violate.
2. Deprived of virginity, deflowered.
devirgination
The action of devirginating; deflowering of a virgin.
devirginator
Someone who is a deflowerer, a ravisher of a virgin.
disvirgin
To devirginate.
indevirginate
Undeflowered; unsullied.
virgin
1. A female who has never experienced sexual intercourse as normally understood; medicolegally, perforation of the hymen need not have occurred for loss of virginity.
2. A person of either sex who has not experienced sexual intercourse.
3. Ecclesiastical teaching: an unmarried or chaste maiden or woman, distinguished for piety or steadfastness in religion, and regarded as having a special place among the members of the Christian church because of these merits.
4. The Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ. Also, an image or picture representing her.
5. A virgin widow, a widow who has been deprived of her husband before the sexual consummation of the marriage.
6. Uncontaminated; fresh; new and unused.
7. A female insect producing fertile eggs by parthenogenesis.
8. A female animal that has not copulated.
9. A female bee, wasp, or other insect that produces fertile eggs without copulating.
10. Being in a pure or natural state; unsullied; for example "virgin snow".
11. Unused, uncultivated, or unexplored; such as, virgin territory.
12. Existing in native or raw form; not processed or refined.

Virgin comes from Latin Virgo, maiden, virgin. We still use Virgo, the Virgin, as the name of a constellation and the sixth sign of the Zodiac, often represented as a young woman with flowing hair. The girl's name Virginia, of course, refers to the Virgin, Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The English colony of Virginia was named during the reign of "The Virgin Queen", Elizabeth I, who ruled England from 1558-1608.

Virgin Birth
The Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ was born as the Son of God rather than of a human father and that his mother, Mother, was a virgin.
virginal
1. Relating to, characteristic of, or befitting a virgin, chaste.
2. Remaining in a state of virginity.
3. Untouched or unsullied; fresh.
Virginia
One of the fifty states in the eastern United States, named for the "The Virgin Queen", Elizabeth I, who ruled England from 1558-1608.

It was admitted as one of the original Thirteen Colonies in 1788 and its official name is the Commonwealth of Virginia.

virginity
1. The quality or condition of being a virgin.
2. The state of being pure, sexually unsullied, or sexually untouched.

Virginity Restoration

Once lost, virginity can never really be replaced; however, modern medicine now offers women a nearly perfect physical simulation of their lost innocence.

  • Hymenoplasty, the surgical reconstruction of the hymen broken during a women's first experience of intercourse; or, increasingly, during demanding exercise, or as a result of a collision or fall by women who have never had sex, has prompted a growing number of young betrothed women in France to make a last-ditch attempt to avoid the humiliation, repudiation, and possibly violence that could result from husbands and families discovering that their wedding night had not been their first sexual experience.
  • Hymenoplasty has generated renewed attention in France because of a court ruling in the northern city of Lille, which annulled a marriage on the basis of a husband's complaint that his wife had falsely promised that she was a virgin.
  • Although the decision made no mention of religion, the fact that the couple were Muslim sparked complaints that France's strictly secular state is being undermined by traditional Arab cultural strictures.
  • The court ruling also infuriated feminists, who saw its acceptance of prior sexual experience as grounds for annulment as similar to treating marriage as the equivalent of a commercial transaction "in which the buyer had discovered a hidden flaw in his purchase.
  • Even though an appeal by France's Justice Ministry resulted in the Lille ruling being overturned, the storm it provoked has focused media attention on young Muslim women who turn to hymenoplasty to avoid the fate of the repudiated Lille bride.
  • Although the overturning of the Lille verdict removed the risk non-virgin Muslim brides could find themselves dragged to court on fraud charges by infuriated husbands, the cultural pressures some face remain sufficiently great that many will continue turning to hymenoplasty to restore their semblance of chastity.
—Based on information and excerpts from
"The Dilemma of 'Virginity' Restoration" by By Bruce Crumley in Paris, France;
Time in partnership with CNN; July 13, 2008.
virgivitiphobia (s) (noun), virgivitiphobias (pl)
An excessive fear by women of being raped: Televisions, radios, and newspapers have reported that so many women have been sexually abused in the past, and more recently, which is why virgivitiphobia is heard about so often these days.
virgo intacta
1. A virgin girl or woman.
2. A girl or woman whose hymen remains unbroken; literally, Latin for "intact virgin".
Virgo, Virgoan
1. A constellation in the region of the celestial equator between Leo and Libra; also called Virgin.
2. Someone who is born under this sign.

Related "woman, female" units: anilo-; fem-; gyno-; mulie-.