The clitoris is located at the front of the vulva, where the inner lips (labia minora) meet at the top. The small, rounded part you can see or feel sits just above the urethral opening, tucked beneath a fold of skin called the clitoral hood. But that visible portion is only a fraction of the organ. Most of the clitoris is internal, extending several centimeters beneath the surface.
Finding the Glans
The glans is the only external part of the clitoris. It sits at the uppermost point of the vulva, where the two inner lips converge. On average, the glans is about 6.4 mm long and 5.1 mm wide, roughly the size of a small pea, though there’s natural variation from person to person.
A fold of skin called the prepuce covers and protects the glans. This structure has two layers: a superficial hood that drapes over the top, and a deeper “collar” that wraps around the sides and base of the glans where it connects to the shaft beneath. You can gently retract the hood to expose the glans more directly. Because the tissue of the glans connects to erectile tissue through only a thin layer of loose connective tissue beneath very thin skin, it is highly responsive to touch.
What’s Beneath the Surface
The internal clitoris is substantially larger than its visible tip. From the glans, a shaft (called the body) extends inward and upward behind the pubic bone. The body averages about 25 mm long and 9 mm wide. At its inner end, the body splits into two legs, known as the crura, that angle backward along either side of the vaginal canal. Each leg averages roughly 52 mm long, making them the largest single component of the clitoris.
All of these structures, the glans, body, and crura, contain erectile tissue surrounded by a thick fibrous covering. During arousal, blood fills the spongy tissue inside, causing the clitoris to swell and become firmer, much like an erection in a penis. The blood supply comes primarily from branches of the internal pudendal artery, which splits into a clitoral branch on each side. These two branches meet at the midline just behind the pubic bone before continuing forward to feed the organ.
Why It’s So Sensitive
The clitoris contains a remarkable concentration of nerve fibers. A 2022 study led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University performed the first known count of human clitoral nerve tissue and found more than 10,000 nerve fibers in the dorsal nerve alone. Because the clitoris also has additional smaller nerves beyond the dorsal nerve, the true total is even higher. All of those nerve fibers are packed into an organ small enough to fit on a fingertip, which is why even light, indirect stimulation through the hood can produce intense sensation.
How It Relates to Nearby Structures
The clitoris, the urethra, and the vaginal opening are all close neighbors, but they are separate structures. The urethral opening sits below the glans clitoris on a small raised area of tissue, and the vaginal opening is below that. The urethra is not encircled by or directly connected to the clitoral body or crura.
The vestibular bulbs, two elongated pads of erectile tissue that sit on either side of the vaginal opening, are sometimes described as part of the clitoris, but anatomically they develop from different embryonic tissue. The clitoral body, crura, and glans all form from the genital tubercle, the same structure that becomes a penis in male development. The vestibular bulbs, along with the labia minora and the vaginal vestibule, develop separately from the urogenital sinus and urogenital folds.
Normal Variation
MRI studies show large variation in clitoral size across individuals. The glans can be smaller or larger than the averages listed above, the body can vary in curvature and length, and the crura can differ in how far they extend. None of these variations affect function. The hood also varies: in some people it covers the glans almost completely, while in others the glans is partially exposed at rest. Both are normal.
3D imaging has improved how researchers measure these structures, producing more consistent and standardized data than older cadaver-based methods. Earlier measurements tended to overestimate some dimensions by roughly twofold because of the difficulty of measuring soft tissue by hand. Modern MRI-based measurements are generally smaller and more precise, giving a more accurate picture of the range of normal anatomy.