1650s, "withdraw (something) from a sheath;" 1660s, "to turn (a tube) inside out," from Latin evaginatus, past participle of evaginare "to unsheathe," from assimilated form of ex "out, out of" (see ex-) + vagina (see vagina). Related: Evaginated; evaginating.
Entries linking to evaginate
ex-
word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to," from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek. PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-. Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).
vagina n.
"sexual passage of the female from the vulva to the uterus," 1680s, medical Latin, from specialized use of Latin vagina "sheath, scabbard, covering; sheath of an ear of grain, hull, husk" (plural vaginae), a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps cognate with Lithuanian vožiu,vožti "to cover with a hollow thing," but de Vaan points out that "Obviously, this is a gratuitous proposal." A modern medical word; the Latin word was not used in an anatomical sense in classical times. Anthropological vagina dentata is attested from 1902.
