pruritus vulvae
- noun
- /pruˈraɪtəs ˈvʌlvi/
- Specialized
- Many women experience pruritus vulvae during pregnancy due to hormonal changes.
Examples
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Treatment for pruritus vulvae usually involves identifying and addressing the underlying cause.
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This time she had an extensive rash, excoriation, and pruritus vulvae.
Academic text (2007) -
A doctor will often ask if you have pruritus vulvae to understand any genital discomfort.
How Itchy
Surface Forms
Morphology
pruritus + vulvae
The term is fully compositional: 'pruritus' denotes an urge to scratch/itching and 'vulvae' refers to the vulva, so together they mean itching of the vulva. Although the phrase uses Latin medical terminology and a genitive/inflected form, the semantic contribution of each constituent is direct, so a learner who knows both words would be able to derive the meaning.
Etymology
Pruritus vulvae comes from Latin words: pruritus meaning 'itch' and vulvae meaning 'vulva', the outer female genital area. So the term simply means 'itching of the vulva' and today it is used for long-lasting itching in that area.