Fleshology - The Lost Dictionary of the Female Body

This is a small attempt to restore its language.

(Société | The Erotics of Becoming)

The female body has been studied, regulated, and renamed for centuries, this is a small attempt to restore its language.

Much of the vocabulary used to describe the female body comes from Latin.

For centuries Latin was the language of medicine, science, law and philosophy. It allowed physicians and scholars across Europe to name parts of the body with precision and consistency. These terms travelled through textbooks, universities and anatomical drawings until they became the accepted language of anatomy.

But language does more than classify. It shapes what we notice.

In these words - cervix, vestibulum, mons pubis, endometrium- we see the attempt to map something complex using the tools available at the time. Flesh. Reproduction. Mounds. Linings. Fringes.

The female body has long been diagrammed and examined, yet rarely contemplated over as a site of intelligence in its own right.

What follows is not a medical glossary. It is a small dictionary of the female body that includes anatomical terms placed beside literature, observation and the knowledge of the body itself.

Attention to language

Before you read the words below, pause for a moment and ask how many anatomical terms for the male body can you name without thinking?

Now try the same exercise for the female body. Not euphemisms or slang. The actual language.

Most people discover something surprising: the female body is everywhere in culture and conversation, yet its language remains strangely unfamiliar.

The words exist. They simply haven’t been spoken very often. Some of these words you will recognise. Others you may encounter for the first time. All of them describe a body you already inhabit.

The Words

AREOLA

Latin areola, meaning “small open space.” The pigmented ring surrounding the nipple.

“The body is a place of knowledge.” - Audre Lorde

The shade of intimacy. What deepens with arousal, pregnancy, or the quiet brush of fingertips.

BARTHOLIN’S GLANDS

Named after Caspar Bartholin. Glands near the vaginal opening that secrete lubrication during arousal.

“The body says what words cannot.” - Marguerite Duras

They slick the path quietly. Often ignored, like the best supporting actors in a very wet scene.

BROAD LIGAMENT

Latin ligamentum latum. Connective tissue that supports the uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes.

“A woman must learn to inhabit the architecture of her own body.” - Hélène Cixous

Pelvic scaffolding. Proof we are beautifully engineered to hold and release.

CERVIX

Latin cervix, meaning “neck.” The narrow passage forming the lower end of the uterus.

“The body is not a thing, it is a situation.” - Simone de Beauvoir

The threshold. The bouncer of the womb.

CORPUS LUTEUM

Latin for “yellow body.” A hormone-producing structure formed after ovulation.

“Desire is the thing we cannot see but feel everywhere.” - Anne Carson

A golden body blooming briefly after ovulation. Ephemeral and essential.

CUNT

Old English cunte. One of the oldest recorded words for female genitalia.

“Language is power.” - Toni Morrison

Older than “nice.” She resists shame and calls it out by name.

ENDOMETRIUM

Greek endon (within) + metra (womb). The lining of the uterus that thickens and sheds each cycle. Under-researched, for some women a barrier to pleasure.

“We write from the body.” - Hélène Cixous

She builds herself up just to let herself go.

FALLOPIAN TUBES

Named after anatomist Gabriele Falloppio.
The tubes that transport the egg from ovary to uterus.

“Chance and desire are the two engines of life.” - Anaïs Nin

The original meeting place.

FIMBRIAE

Latin fimbria, meaning “fringe.” Finger-like ends of the fallopian tubes that guide the egg.

“To feel deeply is to live richly.” - Anaïs Nin

They beckon. They never force.

GRAAFIAN FOLLICLE

Named after Regnier de Graaf. The mature ovarian follicle that releases the egg during ovulation.

“Everything in the world began with a yes.” - Clarice Lispector

The egg’s debutante ball.

HYMEN

Greek hymen, meaning “membrane.” A thin fold of tissue partially covering the vaginal opening.

“Women’s bodies have been territories occupied and contested.” - Adrienne Rich

A myth in membrane form.

LACTIFEROUS DUCTS

Latin lac (milk) + ferre (to carry). Channels that transport milk to the nipple.

“The body remembers what the mind forgets.” - Toni Morrison

Milk rivers. Quiet providers.

MENSTRUATION

Latin mensis, meaning “month.” The cyclical shedding of the uterine lining.

“The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.” - Audre Lorde

A red-letter ritual.

MONS PUBIS

Latin for “pubic mound.” Fatty tissue above the pubic bone.

“The body is the first home we inhabit.” - Anne Carson

A soft hill, sometimes bare, sometimes wild.

MYOMETRIUM

Greek mys (muscle) + metra (womb).
The muscular layer of the uterus.

“Strength is not loud.” - Margaret Atwood

The muscle behind every contraction.

NIPPLE

Old English neb meaning projection. A highly sensitive structure through which milk exits the breast.

“Pleasure is a form of intelligence.” - Anaïs Nin

A punctuation mark. A start button.

ORGASM

Greek orgasmos, meaning “to swell.”

“I must be a mermaid… I have no fear of depths.” - Anaïs Nin

Not a peak. A pulse.

OVARIES

Latin ovarium, meaning “egg keeper.”

“Inside every woman is a wild and ancient force.” - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Little moon makers.

PELVIS

Latin pelvis, meaning basin.

“There is a place in you that remembers.” - Clarice Lispector

The bowl that holds your fire.

PUDENDUM

Latin pudere, meaning “to be ashamed.”

“Shame is the lie someone told you about yourself.” - Anaïs Nin

The part they hoped we would hide.

SKENE’S GLANDS

Named after Alexander Skene.
Paraurethral glands associated with female ejaculation.

“There are parts of women still unmapped.” - Susan Sontag

The wet whisperers.

UTERUS

Latin uterus, meaning womb.

“The womb is not destiny but possibility.” - Adrienne Rich

Holds galaxies. Releases blood.

VESTIBULE

Latin vestibulum, meaning entrance hall.

“The threshold is where transformation begins.” - Anne Carson

Architecture exists in flesh as well as stone.

Closing

Language shapes what we notice. Notice the body differently, and it begins to reveal different knowledge.

Women have more than 100 reasons to have sex