Standard Lemma guide

urethra

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: /jʊəˈɹiːθɹə/
  • General-American: /jʊˈɹiθɹə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: Y ER2 IY1 TH R AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The tube through which urine exits the body and, in male placental mammals, through which semen is ejaculated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

duct through which urine is discharged in most mammals and which serves as the male genital duct

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: duct, epithelial duct, canal, channel

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek οὐρήθρα (ourḗthra, “the passage for urine”), from οὐρέω (ouréō, “to make water”). Recorded in English since 1634.

Across languages

Translations

79 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: uretër — anatomical tube
  • Albanian: ujëhollënxjerrës — anatomical tube
  • Arabic: إِحْلِيل (ʔiḥlīl) — anatomical tube
  • Arabic: إحليل (ʔeḥlīl) — anatomical tube
  • Armenian: միզուկ (mizuk) — anatomical tube
  • Asturian: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Bengali: মূত্রনালি (mutronali) — anatomical tube
  • Bengali: মূত্রনালী (mutronali) — anatomical tube
  • Breton: kan-troazh — anatomical tube
  • Bulgarian: уретер (ureter) — anatomical tube
  • Bulgarian: пикочен канал (pikočen kanal) — anatomical tube
  • Catalan: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Chinese Cantonese: 尿道 (niu6 dou6) — anatomical tube
  • Chinese Mandarin: 尿道 (niàodào) — anatomical tube
  • Czech: močová trubice — anatomical tube
  • Danish: urinrør — anatomical tube
  • Danish: urinveje — anatomical tube
  • Dhivehi: ކުޑަކަމުދާ ހޮޅި (kuḍakamudā hoḷi) — anatomical tube
  • Dutch: urinebuis — anatomical tube
  • Esperanto: uretro — anatomical tube
  • Estonian: kusiti — anatomical tube
  • Faroese: vatnræsi — anatomical tube
  • Finnish: virtsaputki — anatomical tube
  • French: urètre — anatomical tube
  • French: urèthre — anatomical tube
  • Galician: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Georgian: შარდსაწვეთი (šardsac̣veti) — anatomical tube
  • German: Harnröhre — anatomical tube
  • German: Urethra — anatomical tube
  • Greek: ουρήθρα (ouríthra) — anatomical tube
  • Ancient Greek: οὐρήθρα (ourḗthra) — anatomical tube
  • Hebrew: שׁוֹפְכָה (shofkhá) — anatomical tube
  • Hindi: मूत्रमार्ग (mūtramārg) — anatomical tube
  • Hungarian: húgycső — anatomical tube
  • Icelandic: þvagrás — anatomical tube
  • Ido: uretro — anatomical tube
  • Indonesian: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Inuktitut: ᖁᕐᕆᕕᒃ (qorrifik) — anatomical tube
  • Irish: úiréadra — anatomical tube
  • Italian: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Japanese: 尿道 (nyōdō) — anatomical tube
  • Kazakh: зәр өзегі (zär özegı) — anatomical tube
  • Kazakh: несепшығар өзегі (nesepşyğar özegı) — anatomical tube
  • Korean: 요도 (yodo) — anatomical tube
  • Northern Kurdish: mîzerê — anatomical tube
  • Latin: urethra — anatomical tube
  • Lithuanian: šlaplė — anatomical tube
  • Low German: Harnröhr — anatomical tube
  • Māori: pūaha mimi — anatomical tube
  • Māori: taiawa mimi — anatomical tube
  • Newar: युरेथ्रा (yurethrā) — anatomical tube
  • Norwegian Bokmål: urinrør — anatomical tube
  • Norwegian Bokmål: urinvei — anatomical tube
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: urinveg — anatomical tube
  • Persian: میزراه — anatomical tube
  • Polish: cewka moczowa — anatomical tube
  • Portuguese: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Russian: мочеиспуска́тельный кана́л (močeispuskátelʹnyj kanál) — anatomical tube
  • Russian: уре́тра (urétra) — anatomical tube
  • Northern Sami: gožžaoarri — anatomical tube
  • Serbo-Croatian: мокраћна цијев — anatomical tube
  • Serbo-Croatian: mokraćna cijev — anatomical tube
  • Slovak: močová rúra — anatomical tube
  • Slovene: séčnica — anatomical tube
  • Slovene: urétra — anatomical tube
  • Spanish: uretra — anatomical tube
  • Sundanese: urétra — anatomical tube
  • Swahili: mrija wa mkojo — anatomical tube
  • Swedish: urinrör — anatomical tube
  • Telugu: ప్రసేకం (prasēkaṁ) — anatomical tube
  • Thai: ท่อปัสสาวะ (tɔ̂ɔ-bpàt-sǎa-wá) — anatomical tube
  • Turkish: üretra — anatomical tube
  • Turkish: sidik yolu — anatomical tube
  • Ottoman Turkish: سیدك یولی (sidik yolu) — anatomical tube
  • Urdu: موترمارگ (mūtramārg) — anatomical tube
  • Vietnamese: ống đái — anatomical tube
  • Vietnamese: ống dẫn nước tiểu — anatomical tube
  • Vietnamese: niệu đạo — anatomical tube
  • Volapük: yurinatuib — anatomical tube