English
fourchette
Fourchette comes from French fourchette ‘fork (for eating)’, and goes back to Latin furca ‘pitchfork’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfurca‘pitchfork’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400furche
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfourche‘fork’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentfourchette‘fork (for eating)’
- Englishtodaysame form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfurca‘pitchfork’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400furche
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfourche‘fork’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentfourchette‘fork (for eating)’
- Englishtodaysame form
Linked words
through Latin furca ‘pitchfork’
Today it means
noun A fork-shaped structure, specifically the fold of skin where the labia minora meet above the perineum (the frenulum labiorum pudendi).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin furca / fourchette