virgin

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French virgine, from Latin virginem, accusative of virgō.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝdʒɪn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜːdʒɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒɪn

Noun

virgin (plural virgins)

1. A person who has never had sexual intercourse, or sometimes, one who has never engaged in any sexual activity at all.
2. (informal) One who has never used or experienced a specified thing.

   I've never eaten tofu before – you could say I'm a tofu virgin.

3. Any of several species of gossamer-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.
4. A female insect producing eggs from which young are hatched, though there has been no fecundation by a male; a parthenogenetic insect.

Adjective

virgin (not comparable)

1. In a state of virginity; chaste, not having had sexual intercourse.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

     Innocence and virgin modesty […] / That would be wooed, and unsought be won.

   • 1913, DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, p. 294:

     He was now about twenty-three years old, and, though still virgin, the sex instinct that Miriam had over refined for so long now grew particularly strong.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 314:

     Helvidius […] took the plain meaning of scripture to say that Jesus patently had brothers and sisters, so therefore his mother, Mary, had enjoyed a normal family life rather than remaining perpetually virgin.

2. Of a physical object, untouched.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     the white cold virgin snow upon my heart

3. Not yet cultivated, explored, or exploited by humans or humans of certain civilizations.

   virgin prairie, a virgin ecosystem, virgin forest

   The virgin lands of the Americas were awaiting the Europeans.

4. Of olive oil, obtained by mechanical means, so that the oil is not altered.
5. Of mixed drinks, not containing alcohol.

   a virgin daiquiri

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Irving, Virnig, riving, viring

Alternative forms

• vergin (popular, dated)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virgō, virginem. Compare the doublet vergură.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /virˈd͡ʒin/

Adjective

virgin m, n (feminine singular virgină, masculine plural virgini, feminine and neuter plural virgine)

1. virgin, that which has not had sexual intercourse, chaste, maiden, virginal
2. untouched, clean, stainless, immaculate, pure