What is a primigravida?

• A. A woman who has never been pregnant
• B. A woman in her first pregnancy
• C. A woman who has been pregnant more than once
• D. A woman who has given birth once

Answer: (B)

Primigravida describes a woman who is pregnant for the first time. In obstetrics, gravidity counts the number of pregnancies a woman has had, regardless of outcome, while parity counts how many pregnancies have reached viability and resulted in birth. So being primigravida means this is her first pregnancy. This differs from nulligravida (never been pregnant), multigravida (more than one pregnancy), and the related term primipara (has delivered once).