Labia
part of the female genitalia
The labia are the major externally visible structures of the vulva. In humans and other primates, there are two pairs of labia: the labia majora (outer lips) are large and thick folds of skin that cover the vulva's other parts, while the labia minora (inner lips) are the folds of skin between the outer labia that surround and protect the urethral and vaginal openings, as well as the glans clitoridis.
In other mammals, the labia majora are not present and the labia minora are instead referred to as the labia vulvae.
Etymology
Labium (plural labia) is a Latin-derived term meaning "lip". Labium and its derivatives (including labial, labrum) are used to describe any lip-like structure, but in the English language, labia often specifically refers to parts of the vulva.
Structure
The labia majora are lip-like structures consisting mostly of skin and adipose (fatty) tissue, which extend on either side of the vulva to form the pudendal cleft through the middle. They enclose and protect the other tissues of the vulva. The labia majora often have a plump appearance, and are thicker towards the anterior. The anterior junction of the labia majora is called the anterior commissure, which is below the mons pubis and above the clitoris. To the posterior, the labia majora join at the posterior commissure, which is above the perineum and below the frenulum of the labia minora.
“Labia” enters the record as part of the female genitalia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Labia, part and female can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1406501. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Labia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.