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Virgin
Share:
n.
See Virgo.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
vir·gin (vûrjĭn)
Share:
n.
1.
a. A person who has not experienced sexual intercourse.
b. A female virgin. Used chiefly in historical contexts.
2. Virgin The Virgin Mary.
3. Zoology An animal that has not mated or has not been fertilized.
4. A person who is inexperienced in a given activity or field: "all these [factors] kept me a gun virgin well into midlife" (Michael DiLeo).
adj.
1.
a. Never having experienced sexual intercourse; chaste.
b. Zoology Relating to or being a virgin.
2. Inexperienced or about to gain first experience in a given activity or field: a virgin skydiver.
3. Unaltered or barely altered by human action, especially:
a. Not traveled upon: virgin snow.
b. Never having had trees removed or cut down: a virgin forest.
c. Never having been cultivated: virgin land.
d. Not processed or refined: virgin ore; virgin wood pulp.
4. Happening for the first time; initial: a ship's virgin voyage.
5. Obtained directly from the first pressing: virgin olive oil.
6. Made with the ingredients of a cocktail but without alcohol.
[Middle English, from Old French virgine, from Latin virgō, virgin-.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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