cervix
Americannoun
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cervixes,
plural
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cervices
plural
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the neck, especially the back part.
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any necklike part, especially the constricted lower end of the uterus.
noun
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the technical name for neck
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any necklike part of an organ, esp the lower part of the uterus that extends into the vagina
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cervix
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin cervīx “neck, nape, uterine cervix”
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One phrase highlighted in her research is "incompetent cervix" used to describe the shortening of the cervix that can increase risks of pregnancy loss and early birth.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
They found evidence of EXO1 overproduction in multiple cancer types, including tumors of the breast, skin, liver and cervix, consistent with earlier research.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026
Around a decade later, when Danovich went to a clinic for another IUD—a small, T-shaped birth control device that’s inserted past the cervix into the uterus—she asked the doctor for pain medication.
From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2026
For 40 hours, Barnica waited in the hospital for the heartbeat to stop, with her cervix exposed to bacteria.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
At that point the doctors liked what they saw: her cervix was a bit red and inflamed from the first treatment, but the tumor was shrinking.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
People in their 20s with cervices need Pap smears every three years, although the interval may be shorter if you’ve had abnormal results in the past.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 16, 2022
Currently, the vast majority of HPV diagnoses in people with cervices are found via Pap smears that analyze tissue scraped from the cervix itself.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2021
This is the generation of American women that reinvented feminism, wrote Our Bodies, Ourselves, and learned to examine their cervices with mirrors.
From Time Magazine Archive
Next time Niobe turned up was at memorial cervices for Bloodgood H. Cutter, "the Long Island Farmer Poet."
From Time Magazine Archive
This results in a double uterus, which may also have two cervixes and two vaginal canals.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2025
She said the campaign team has heard from many within the LGBTQ+ community, particularly from those who have cervixes but do not identify as women.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2023
Whole sets of teeth, tonsils, cervixes and colons were lost or mutilated in this pursuit.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 3, 2022
Hern proved them wrong, pioneering new approaches to make later abortions safer, including dilating cervixes with Japanese seaweed tubes called laminaria.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2022
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
