# Clitoris and toes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770 "2005-04-11T10:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/21 "2005-04-11T17:32:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > You want someone to research the clitoris? Who would do such a job? I’ve submitted my resume. ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/22 "2005-04-11T17:35:02Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > [Did Renaldus Columbus discover the clitoris in 1559?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_212b.html) The above says that Freud was wrong in his statement that women have two types of orgasms - clitoral and vaginal. But what I have understood all along is that it is **TRUE**. That some women have only clitoral orgasms, some only vaginal and some can manage both. So what is the true dope on this? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/23 "2005-04-11T18:31:25Z")
The real skinny is that there’s only one type of orgasm, varying in intensity of course, but whether you reach orgasm via clitoral or vaginal stimulation, the resulting climax is the same. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/24 "2005-04-11T19:56:18Z")
Cecil on the [G spot](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_069.html), with an [update](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011130.html). Is that what you mean by vaginal orgasms? ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/25 "2005-04-11T21:17:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Cecil on the [G spot](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_069.html), with an [update](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011130.html). Is that what you mean by vaginal orgasms? G spot is related to vaginal orgasm in that it perhaps enhances the intensity of the orgasm. By vaginal orgasm, I mean orgasm reached by the sole act of the penis moving in and out of the vagina, and not simultaneously supported by clitoral stimulation. By clitoral orgasm I mean the orgasm achieved solely by stimulating the clitoris, orally or by other means, and excluding the act of the penis(or any other object) moving in and out of the vagina. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/26 "2005-04-11T22:52:07Z")
Bit of a family theme: Christopher Columbus was the last person to discover America. His cousin Realdo was the last person to discover the clitoris. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/27 "2005-04-11T23:41:35Z")
Anatomically, they are called phalanges 2, 3, 4 and 5, I believe. Or am I wrong? Hmm, paging **QtM**. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/28 "2005-04-12T04:16:21Z")
> [@quiltguy154](#): > > Don’t forget the one who went to market. The one who went to market _is_ the big toe. That’s why he went to market, because he was fattened up. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/29 "2005-04-12T09:01:20Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > From Havelock Ellis’s [_Studies in the Psychology of Sex_](http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/6/1/13614/13614-h/13614-h.htm) (1927): > > Suidas and Pollux were Greek lexicographers of the 10th and 2nd centuries respectively, while Rufus of Ephesus was writing c. 100 CE, so the modern name is itself quite old. Ok. Because The Online Etymology Dictionary ([http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=clitoris&searchmode=none](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=clitoris&searchmode=none)) gives the origin of the word to 1615 (when it has been first trace to I suppose). And it still surprises me the way it has succeeded in muscling out any original terms in nearly all the European languages – and a few non-European too. Apparently it was at some time in the middle ages called ”kilderfip” or merely ”fip” in Danish/Norwegian (meaning “tickle point/top” or merely “point/top”). But I think it sounds like slang or an amusing poetic term, like which I suppose there’s a lot today (though I don’t actually know any). So I don’t know. Here is a page with translations to a lot of languages: [http://www.clitoressa.net/clitoris/default.htm](http://www.clitoressa.net/clitoris/default.htm) And it’s fairly interesting that the Icelandic term is ”snípur”. But I don’t know if that’s a new, constructed, word, or an older retained or rediscovered word. And apparently there’s a word for it in Sanskrit too (or rather: six). If there was a word in Sanskrit, oughtn’t there have been on in the other Indo-European languages too? ---
**Author:** ![abby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@abby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abby)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/30 "2005-04-12T10:09:39Z")
> [@mittu](#): > > I would be very surprised if 99% of the female population of the world weren’t well aware of the clitoris long before Realdo Colombo claims to have found it, they just didn’t feel the need to shout about it from the rooftops 😉 It’s funny you should say that. As someone who has seen an awful lot of clitori (450 or so), and further asked the owners to specifically identify them, I think I am in a position to comment on this. Around half of the wimmin I sampled had no idea where the clitoris actually is, which I always find surprising (despite it’s commonness). My credentials: I shoot porn for a living, specialising in vaginal closeups. Of course, the obvious comeback is that all porn models are so dumb they would not know their arse from their elbow anyway (this is not the case in my experience, but it’s certainly commonly assumed). The counter argument is that at least porn models are more likely to to be in tune with their bodies… or so you’d think. All the models I have shot are 18 to 26ish, so that’s probably more telling: the older you are, the more likely you are to know whcih way is up, I guess (tho I have not noticed a correlation between age and ID abilities). abby ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/31 "2005-04-12T16:40:23Z")
> [@abby](#): > > It’s funny you should say that. As someone who has seen an awful lot of clitori (450 or so), and further asked the owners to specifically identify them, I think I am in a position to comment on this. > > Around half of the wimmin I sampled had no idea where the clitoris actually is, which I always find surprising (despite it’s commonness). > > My credentials: I shoot porn for a living, specialising in vaginal closeups. > > Of course, the obvious comeback is that all porn models are so dumb they would not know their arse from their elbow anyway (this is not the case in my experience, but it’s certainly commonly assumed). The counter argument is that at least porn models are more likely to to be in tune with their bodies… or so you’d think. > > All the models I have shot are 18 to 26ish, so that’s probably more telling: the older you are, the more likely you are to know whcih way is up, I guess (tho I have not noticed a correlation between age and ID abilities). > > abby That’s odd, given that this gay man can id the clitoris, and I don’t even have one or interest in one. ---
**Author:** ![jesuslynch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@jesuslynch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesuslynch)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/32 "2005-04-12T19:47:38Z")
Was Realdo Colombo a Lt. with LAPD? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/33 "2005-04-12T21:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course, the obvious comeback is that all porn models are so dumb they would not know their arse from their elbow anyway (this is not the case in my experience, but it’s certainly commonly assumed). The counter argument is that at least porn models are more likely to to be in tune with their bodies… or so you’d think. So do you ever have to deal with models trying to stick a dildo in their elbow? 😉 And **wisernow** , I would agree with your definitions of vaginal and clitoral orgasms, but how common is it to be able to achieve an orgasm purely vaginally without stimulation of the G spot? I was under the impression that part of the reason so many women never experience orgasm was that many men (and perhaps women as well) mistakenly think that the old in-and-out is or should be sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/34 "2005-04-12T23:49:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And **wisernow** , I would agree with your definitions of vaginal and clitoral orgasms, but how common is it to be able to achieve an orgasm purely vaginally without stimulation of the G spot? I was under the impression that part of the reason so many women never experience orgasm was that many men (and perhaps women as well) mistakenly think that the old in-and-out is or should be sufficient. About 40% of women can reach orgasm through vaginal (g-spot) stimulation alone. It is hard to know the actual potential because most women in our culture are kept in the dark about their own sexuality. Presumably, the actually amount is higher. An unknown percentage can reach orgasm through other means besides g-spot and clitoral stimulation. As a woman ages, the more and more likely it becomes that she can achieve other means of orgasm besides clitoral stimulation. And it’s not just the in-and-out motion which stimulates orgasm for most women who can have vaginal orgasms - the best way to get them is to have a male partner who has a slightly upturned penis, since the spot where they are most easily achieved is on the upper wall, not towards the end. Technically, vaginal orgasms and clitoral orgasms are the exact same thing, since everything leads back to the clitoris. Some women just have their clitorii (?) positioned in such a way that they have nerve endings inside the vagina and internal sex can stimulate these. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/35 "2005-04-13T04:11:46Z")
According to **bibliophage** , the plural of “clitoris” is “clitorides”. Most singulars which end in -us are converted to -i in the plural, but not any other Latin terms. Singulars ending in -um turn into -a, singulars ending in -a become -ae, and most other Latin words end in -es in the plural (though as in the case of clitoris, some other unexpected letters may sneak in there or change as well in this case). ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/36 "2005-04-13T06:21:06Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > I’m not renewing. Well, don’t let the door hit your clitoris on the way out. Anyway, I’ve just made a discovery of my own. After digging, probing and hunting deep inside the folds of my Japenese-English dictionary, I’ve found the word _inkaku_ for “clitoris” which uses one kanji that means “negative” or “shadow” with another that means “core” or “nucleus”. Make of that what you will. The English name is far more commonly used, though. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/37 "2005-04-13T08:20:45Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > If there was a word in Sanskrit, oughtn?t there have been on in the other Indo-European languages too? Most of the Sanskrit words listed are longer than most IE roots, so they were probably constructed from 2 or more descriptive words and may have been unique to Sanskrit. > [@Chronos](#): > > According to **bibliophage** , the plural of “clitoris” is “clitorides”. …some other unexpected letters may sneak in there or change as well… Makes sense given how Latin in many ways resembles Greek; in ancient Greek, if a third declension noun had a stem in delta, the nominative singular sigma ending would cause it to contract to just the sigma whereas the plural epsilon-sigma ending would not. So by analogy, assuming the similarity carries over, the stem of clitoris must be clitorid- with a contraction in the nominative resulting in the removal of the d. Did I unwittingly make a pun or two in that last paragraph? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/38 "2005-04-13T10:52:35Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > About 40% of women can reach orgasm through vaginal (g-spot) stimulation alone. It is hard to know the actual potential because most women in our culture are kept in the dark about their own sexuality. I would offer that it may well be difficult to stimulate the vagina **without** stimulating either the external meatus of the clitoris or the subcutaneous bundles of nerves that travel down and back from the clitoris( or, up and back- all depending on whether or not the person in question is hanging upside down 😉 ) , into and through the much-adored G-Spot and farther back along the upper vaginal wall. Therefore, it would be a complex matter to isolate said stimulii. However, I am a Doper of much complexity. I’ll give it a go and report back. 😃 \<\< snip \>\> everything leads back to the clitoris. \<\\> Sig line ! Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/39 "2005-04-13T16:46:20Z")
Forgot to add: a lot of IE roots got derived to words that have related but different meanings. Also forgot that **bonzer** ’s cite says it is a Greek word, so that’d make it a 3rd declension delta stem noun after all. :smack: _checks the timestamp of my last post, winces_ ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770/40 "2005-04-13T17:30:53Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Anyway, I’ve just made a discovery of my own. After digging, probing and hunting deep inside the folds of my Japenese-English dictionary, LOL, good one. LOL > [@](#): > > I’ve found the word _inkaku_ for “clitoris” which uses one kanji that means “negative” or “shadow” with another that means “core” or “nucleus”. Make of that what you will. The first _kanji_ is the Chinese character for _yin_, as in our old friends Yin-and-Yang. In this compound, it refers to the essence of femininity. So _inkaku_ means ‘feminine nucleus’ or ‘feminine core’, which is a truly superb way of putting it. _Dômo arigato gozaimasu_, thank you, people of Japan. 🆒 The word _clitoris_ as used nowadays is a neologism, dating back only to Fallopio in the 16th century. Fallopio cited Avicenna and the Arabic word he used for the clitoris, _bazrah_ (spelled _“bathara”_ in Fallopio’s transcription). However, it seems Fallopio misunderstood Avicenna. Fallopio described what _we today_ know as the clitoris: “It can sometimes reach a growth so remarkable in some women that they can have coitus together, like men fornicating. This part is still called by the Greeks the clitoris… this part corresponds to the male penis…” However, Avicenna (Abû ‘Alî al-Husayn Ibn Sînâ, 10th century) had actually been describing the labia. Galen, on whose work Avicenna’s was based in part, had used the Greek word _klitoris_ for the labia, comparing it to an inferior copy of the penis turned inside out (for the male body is the true human form, and the female only a corrupted imitation, according to these venerable old male chauvinist pigs). Galen was describing the labia. And he was wrong, the old swine. The labia are homologous with the scrotum. The clitoris is of course homologous with the penis, as Fallopio noted. Cite: Jane Mills, _Womanwords: A Dictionary of Words about Women_ (New York: Free Press, 1989), p. 48-51. In modern Arabic dictionaries, the word _bazrah_ is translated ‘clitoris’, not labia. It seems the meaning of the Arabic word has shifted along with the Greek word. In Persian and Turkish, the clitoris is _dilak_, meaning ‘little tongue’ (a composite word made from the Turkish word _dil_ ‘tongue’ and the Persian diminutive suffix -_k_). In Uzbek, the meaning has apparently shifted, so that the Uzbek equivalent _tiloq_ means ‘vagina’, at least according to Karl Krippes in his _Uzbek-English Dictionary_. But he’s a man, and it’s unlikely he would have asked an Uzbek woman about this directly on any of his trips to Tashkent, so he probably got it from other men. Based on men’s hapless fumblings through the ages at trying to understand women’s vulvas, I don’t consider this a reliable source. I will have to travel to Tashkent to ascertain for myself if I’m ever to master the Uzbek language when it comes to women. In the conlang I invented, Mömö, the name for the clitoris is _wundanï kümi_, literally ‘the _kümi_ of the vulva’. The word _kümi_ is useful for various body parts, thus earlobe is _khulanï kümi_ (the _kümi_ of the ear), uvula is _korochnï kümi_ (the _kümi_ of the throat), and nipple is _nemjöni kümi_ (the _kümi_ of the breast). But I have to admit the Japanese name for it is the best ever. _Banzai inkaku!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clitoris-and-toes/298770.md?page=3)