膣

Also carries a secondary medical sense of “flesh closing or regenerating naturally.”

Formed as a phono-semantic compoun combining:

月 (육부월) — the “flesh” radical, indicating a relation to the human body; and

窒 (막힐 질) — providing both sound (zhì / 질) and meaning, “to block, close, or fill.”

Together, the composition conveys “a bodily cavity that closes or tightens”, describing the physical nature of the vaginal canal.

Thus, 膣 literally means “the closing passage within the flesh.”

First recorded in medical writings of the Han dynasty, notably in early gynecological and anatomical treatises.

음도 질 (膣) — the vagina

Classical euphemism: 새살돋을 질 (“place where new flesh grows”), an older, modest description in medical or poetic contexts.

Used in 한의학 (traditional Korean medicine) to denote both anatomical and regenerative senses.

In modern Korean, the medical term 질 (膣) remains in common usage for “vagina,” both in anatomy and healthcare.

In pre-modern East Asian medicine, 膣 was described in restrained terminology emphasizing balance and regeneration rather than explicit sexuality.

The accompanying idea of “new flesh growing” (生新肉) reflects a worldview where healing and fertility are linked — the same character could denote restoration of tissue and the generative passage of life.

This dual sense — physical and vital — made 膣 a word of both clinical precision and symbolic depth, illustrating the traditional approach to the human body as a harmonious, self-renewing whole.