virginity
noun/və(ɹ)ˈd͡ʒɪnɪti/
Etymology From Middle English virginite, from Old French virginite, from Latin virginitas. Equivalent to virgin + -ity. Displaced native Old English mæġeþhād (compare modern English maidhood), originally meaning “girlhood.”
1
The state or characteristic of being a virgin.
- to lose one's virginity
- She had a lot of dark hair pinned untidily back from a small well-formed brow, and her tilted nose and large embarrassed eyes had survived intact from the mistrusts and agitations of a schoolgirl, which maturity had striven to defeat by lengthening her chin and tightening her lips, while giving her skin the faintly furred matt surface of pickled virginity.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 128: