# virgin

Pronunciation: say "VUR-jin" US /ˈvɝd͡ʒɪn/, UK /ˈvɜːd͡ʒɪn/

## Noun

1. A person who has never had sexual intercourse, or sometimes never taken part in any sexual activity at all; less often, an animal that has not yet mated.
   - Simple: Someone who has never had sex. Also, an animal that has not mated yet.
   - _He remained a virgin until he married at twenty-nine._
   - _The breeder kept the young mare, still a virgin, away from the stallions until spring._
3. A person, typically a woman and often a consecrated virgin, who has taken a vow of virginity or died defending it, especially one honored as a saint.
   - Simple: Someone, usually a woman, who promised God never to have sex or died protecting their virginity, often honored as a saint.
   - _The bishop received three women into the order of consecrated virgins._
   - _The church calendar keeps her feast as that of a virgin and martyr._
6. Someone who has never used or experienced a particular thing. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Someone who has never tried or done a certain thing before.
   - _As a camping virgin, she had no idea how to put up a tent._
   - _The tutorial is built for console virgins who have never held a controller._

## Adjective

2. Never having had sexual intercourse; chaste.
   - Simple: Never having had sex with anyone.
   - _Church tradition holds that Mary remained virgin all her life._
   - _In the novel, a shy virgin hero spends half the book working up the courage to ask his neighbor out._
4. Of olive oil, extracted by mechanical means in a way that leaves the oil itself unaltered.
   - Simple: Used about olive oil that is taken from olives by machines in a way that does not change the oil.
   - _Drizzle the salad with a good extra virgin olive oil just before serving._
   - _Virgin olive oil keeps the fruity taste of the olives better than refined oil does._
5. In its original state; not yet cultivated, explored, used, or disturbed, especially by people.
   - Simple: Still in its first natural state, not yet used, changed, or disturbed by people.
   - _Loggers have cleared most of the region's virgin forest over the last century._
   - _Settlers from the east claimed vast stretches of virgin land along the river._
7. Of a mixed drink, made without any alcohol.
   - Simple: Used to describe a mixed drink that has no alcohol in it.
   - _As the designated driver, she stuck to virgin mojitos all evening._
   - _The bar's menu offers a virgin version of every cocktail for guests who don't drink._
8. Having little or no experience of something; new to an activity.
   - Simple: New to something and without much experience of it.
   - _Grandma covered her virgin ears in mock horror when the comedian started swearing._
   - _To my virgin palate the sushi was a shock, but by the third piece I was hooked._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A female insect whose eggs hatch into young without having been fertilized by a male; a parthenogenetic insect.

## Origin

Latin virgō, in its accusative form virginem, became Old French virgine and then Middle English virgine. Virgo is a doublet, and the word pushed out the native Old English fǣmne.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/virgin (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).