virginité

French

Etymology

First known attestation 881 in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia. Borrowed from Latin virginitātem.

Noun

virginité f (plural virginités)

1. virginity (state of being a virgin)

   Synonym: pucelage

2. (literary) moral purity

   [Google] est en train, d’une certaine manière, de sortir [de Chine] avec une sorte de virginité, ou en tout cas gagnant sur le terrain moral.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Further reading

• “virginité”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Alternative forms

• virginitet
• virginite (manuscript form)

Etymology

First known attestation 881 in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia. Borrowed from Latin virginitās.

Noun

virginité oblique singular, f (oblique plural virginitez, nominative singular virginité, nominative plural virginitez)

1. virginity (state of being a virgin)
   • c. 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire, line 444:

     a virginité demustre

     [they] demonstrate their virginity

Descendants

• Middle French: virginité
  • French: virginité