Word.ws English Dictionary

kegel

kegel noun: the pubococcygeal muscles.

Noun (1)

kegel (plural kegels)

  1. The pubococcygeal muscles.
    • The parenting magazines are on a higher moral plane than the how-to-get-a-guy magazines, just as a man going home to his wife and children (or a woman breast-feeding a baby) is on a higher moral plane than a man out trolling for nookie (or a woman flexing her Kegels in preparation for a date).1999 July 19, Hendrik Hertzberg, “The Parent Trap”, in The New Yorker
  2. A contraction of the pubococcygeal muscles, performed for the purpose of strengthening them.
    • Done for a few minutes a day, Kegels can ease childbirth, help with recovery, prevent incontinence — even improve your sex life.2014 July 14, Roni Caryn Rabin, “Pelvic Exercises for Men, Too”, in The New York Times
    • Hop on top, I wanna ride / I do a kegel while it's inside2020 August 7, Cardi B, “WAP” ft. Megan Thee Stallion, Atlantic Records

Verb

kegel (third-person singular simple present kegels, present participle (US) kegeling or (UK) kegelling, simple past and past participle (US) kegeled or (UK) kegelled)

  1. (intransitive) To clench one's perineum and pelvic muscles.
    • To future appointments, I wear a skirt and thigh-highs so that I can Kegel with my outfit intact.2022 October 2, Cara Schacter, “My Year of Stress and Constipation”, in The New York Times

Noun (2) capitalized: Kegel

Kegel (plural Kegels)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of kegel.
    Synonyms:
    Kegel exercise

Synonyms of kegel

  • Kegel exercise

Forms of kegel

Noun
pluralkegels
pluralKegels
Verb
third-person singular presentkegels
present participle USkegeling
present participle UKkegelling
past participle USkegeled
past USkegeled
past participle UKkegelled
past UKkegelled

Origin of kegel

After Arnold Kegel. The surname is of German origin; see Kegel (“skittle, bowling pin”).

Words formed from kegel

Phrases with kegel

Questions about kegel

What does kegel mean?
Kegel means the pubococcygeal muscles.
What part of speech is kegel?
Kegel can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of kegel?
The plural of kegel is kegels.

Words near kegel in the dictionary

  1. keg beers
  2. keg parties
  3. keg party
  4. keg stand
  5. keg stands
  6. kegel
  7. kegel ball
  8. kegel balls
  9. kegeled
  10. kegeler
  11. kegelers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kegel (page history and authors); Kegel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-kegel.wav.

Cite this entry: “kegel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kegel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.