The stretchable passage that connects a woman's outer sex organs "the vulva" with the cervix and uterus.

The vagina is a fibromuscular tube, about 10 cm long, that extends from the cervix of the uterus to the outside. It is located between the rectum and the urinary bladder. Because the vagina is tilted posteriorly as it ascends and the cervix is tilted anteriorly, the cervix projects into the vagina at nearly a right angle. The vagina serves as a passageway for menstrual flow, receives the erect penis during intercourse, and is the birth canal during childbirth.

a larger opening below the urethra.

It may be partially covered by a hymen, a thin stretch of skin.

Referrence:Vagina(Chinese Version)

Vagina From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Vagina, Latin for "scabbard", is the name of the tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female mammals, or to the cloaca in female birds and some reptiles.

In mammals, the exterior vaginal opening is the vulva. A membrane situated behind the urethral opening, the hymen, partially occludes the vagina in many organisms, including some human females, from birth until it is ruptured by first coitus, or by any number of other activites including medical examinations, injury, certain types of exercise, introduction of a foreign object, et cetera.

The vagina serves the purposes of 1) providing a path for menstrual fluids to leave the body, 2) admitting the penis of the male for coitus and ultimately the introduction of male gametes (sperm) for the fertilization of ova, and 3) providing a route to deliver a fully gestated fetus from the uterus to its independent life outside the body of the mother in the process of live birth. During birth, the vagina is referred to as the birth canal.

Insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the oviduct.

For the purposes of anatomy, a vagina can also be any structure that serves as a sheath (or theca), as in, the vagina of the portal vein. Another example is the fibrous sheath around tendons, called a vagina fibrosa when solid or a vagina mucosa when it contains a fluid-filled cavity around the tendon.

Vagina is often used loosely to refer to a woman's external genitalia; strictly speaking, this is called the vulva or pudenda (L. shame), as distinguished from the interior vaginal tract.

See also: Vulvovaginal disorders, Vulvovaginal health, Skene's glands, G-spot, pudenda