Standard Lemma guide

phimosis

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /fʌɪˈməʊ.sɪs/
  • General-American: /faɪˈmoʊ.sɪs/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A contraction of the foreskin (either as a stage of development or a pathological condition), which prevents it from being retracted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an abnormal tightness of the foreskin preventing retraction over the glans

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: abnormality, abnormalcy

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φίμωσις (phímōsis, “muzzling; contraction of the prepuce”), from φῑμόω (phīmóō, “to muzzle”) + -σις (-sis, nominal suffix).

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: fimosi — contraction of the foreskin
  • Chinese Mandarin: 包莖 /包茎 (bāojīng) — contraction of the foreskin
  • Czech: fimóza — contraction of the foreskin
  • Czech: zúžení předkožky — contraction of the foreskin
  • Dutch: voorhuidsvernauwing — contraction of the foreskin
  • Esperanto: fimozo — contraction of the foreskin
  • Faroese: likkutútur — contraction of the foreskin
  • Finnish: fimoosi — contraction of the foreskin
  • French: phimosis — contraction of the foreskin
  • German: Phimose — contraction of the foreskin
  • German: Vorhautverengung — contraction of the foreskin
  • Ancient Greek: φίμωσις (phímōsis) — contraction of the foreskin
  • Hungarian: fitymaszűkület — contraction of the foreskin
  • Indonesian: fimosis — contraction of the foreskin
  • Italian: fimosi — contraction of the foreskin
  • Japanese: 包茎 (hōkei) — contraction of the foreskin
  • Korean: 포경 (pogyeong) — contraction of the foreskin
  • Latin: phimōsis — contraction of the foreskin
  • Polish: stulejka — contraction of the foreskin
  • Portuguese: fimose — contraction of the foreskin
  • Russian: фимо́з (fimóz) — contraction of the foreskin
  • Spanish: fimosis — contraction of the foreskin
  • Ukrainian: фімо́з (fimóz) — contraction of the foreskin