circumcision

From Latin circumcīsiō, from circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”).

• Rhymes: -ɪʒən

circumcision (countable and uncountable, plural circumcisions)

1. The surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis.
   • 1697, Benjamin Keach, A Counter-Antidote to Purge Out the Effects of a Late Counterfeit‎, page 7:

     So ſay I , did the Covenant of circumciſion, in that he that was circumciſed was bound to keep the whole Law Gal 5. 3.

2. The surgical removal of the clitoral hood of the clitoris; female circumcision.
3. (often proscribed) The surgical removal of the clitoris; clitoridectomy, usually referred to as female genital mutilation.

• circ (informal)

• genital mutilation

• circumcise, circumcize