female circumcision

female + circumcision

female circumcision (countable and uncountable, plural female circumcisions)

1. (medicine, sciences) The removal of the clitoral hood, the female prepuce cognate to the foreskin removed in the male equivalent (a form of female genital mutilation when done without medical justification).
   • Phimosis of the prepuce of the clitoris: indication for female circumcision by D G McLintock in J R Soc Med. 1985 March; 78(3): 257–258
2. (sometimes proscribed, possibly dated) Any operation involving removal of any of various parts of the female external genital organs including and in addition to the hood, such as the clitoris or labia (a form of female genital mutilation when done without medical justification). [from 17th c.]

• circumcision
• female genital cutting, sometimes included under female genital mutilation (abbreviated as FGM)

• male circumcision

• infibulation