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Pre-ejaculate (also known as pre-ejaculatory fluid or Cowper's fluid, and colloquially as pre-cum) is the clear, colorless, viscous
Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of the Drag of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear stress or extensional stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness"....
 fluid that emits from the urethra
Urethra

In anatomy, the urethra is a tube which connects the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. The urethra has an excretory function in both sexes to pass urine to the outside, and also a reproductive function in the male, as a passage for semen....
 of a man's penis
Penis

The penis is an external sex organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates.The penis is a reproductive organ, technically an intromittent organ, and for Eutheria, additionally serves as the external organ of urination....
 when he is sexually aroused.

fluid is emitted during arousal
Sexual arousal

Sexual arousal is the the arousal of sexual desires in preparation for sexual behavior....
, masturbation
Masturbation

Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation, especially of one's own sex organ , often to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by other types of bodily contact , by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods....
, foreplay
Foreplay

In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physical acts between two or more people meant to increase sexual arousal....
 or at an early stage during sex
Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the Penis enters the Vagina. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphrodite, as is the case with snails....
, some time before the man fully reaches orgasm
Orgasm

An orgasm is the conclusion of the Human sexual response cycle#Plateau phase of Human sexual response cycle, and may be experienced by both males and females....
 and semen
Semen

Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that usually contains spermatozoon....
 is ejaculated.






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Pre-ejaculate (also known as pre-ejaculatory fluid or Cowper's fluid, and colloquially as pre-cum) is the clear, colorless, viscous
Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of the Drag of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear stress or extensional stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness"....
 fluid that emits from the urethra
Urethra

In anatomy, the urethra is a tube which connects the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. The urethra has an excretory function in both sexes to pass urine to the outside, and also a reproductive function in the male, as a passage for semen....
 of a man's penis
Penis

The penis is an external sex organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates.The penis is a reproductive organ, technically an intromittent organ, and for Eutheria, additionally serves as the external organ of urination....
 when he is sexually aroused.

Origin and composition

The fluid is emitted during arousal
Sexual arousal

Sexual arousal is the the arousal of sexual desires in preparation for sexual behavior....
, masturbation
Masturbation

Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation, especially of one's own sex organ , often to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by other types of bodily contact , by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods....
, foreplay
Foreplay

In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physical acts between two or more people meant to increase sexual arousal....
 or at an early stage during sex
Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the Penis enters the Vagina. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphrodite, as is the case with snails....
, some time before the man fully reaches orgasm
Orgasm

An orgasm is the conclusion of the Human sexual response cycle#Plateau phase of Human sexual response cycle, and may be experienced by both males and females....
 and semen
Semen

Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that usually contains spermatozoon....
 is ejaculated. It is primarily produced by the bulbourethral gland
Bulbourethral gland

A bulbourethral gland, also called a Cowper's gland for anatomist William Cowper , is one of two small exocrine glands present in the reproductive system of human males....
s (Cowper's glands), with the glands of Littre (the mucus-secreting urethral glands
Urethra

In anatomy, the urethra is a tube which connects the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. The urethra has an excretory function in both sexes to pass urine to the outside, and also a reproductive function in the male, as a passage for semen....
) also contributing.

The amount of fluid that the human male issues varies widely among individuals. Some men do not produce any pre-ejaculate fluid, while others emit as much as 5 mL
Litér

Lit?r is a village in Veszpr?m , Hungary.External links ...
.

Pre-ejaculate contains some chemicals associated with semen, such as acid phosphatase
Acid phosphatase

Acid phosphatase is a phosphatase, a type of enzyme, used to free attached phosphate groups from other molecules during digestion. It is basically a phosphomonoesterase....
. Some semen markers, such as gamma-glutamyltransferase, are completely absent from pre-ejaculate fluid.

Function

Acidic environments are hostile to sperm. Pre-ejaculate neutralizes residual acidity in the urethra caused by urine
Urine

Urine is a liquid waste product of the body secreted by the kidneys by a process of filtration from blood called urination and excreted through the urethra....
, creating a more favorable environment for the passage of sperm. The vagina is normally acidic; the deposit of pre-ejaculate prior to the emission of semen may change the vaginal environment to promote sperm survival.

Pre-ejaculate also acts as a lubricant during intercourse, and plays a role in semen coagulation.

Risks

Studies have demonstrated the presence of HIV
HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that can lead to AIDS , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections....
 in the pre-ejaculate of an infected person, which can lead to the disease AIDS
AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV ....
.

Many also express concern that pre-ejaculate may contain sperm which can cause pregnancy, using this to argue against the use of coitus interruptus
Coitus interruptus

Coitus interruptus, also known as withdrawal or the pull-out method, is a method of contraception in which a couple has sexual intercourse, but semen is ejaculation outside of and away from the vagina....
 (withdrawal) as a contraceptive method. There have been no large-scale studies of sperm in pre-ejaculate, but some smaller-scale studies suggest that no sperm is present and thus pre-ejaculate is ineffectual at causing pregnancy. It is likely, however, that pre-ejaculate which follows a recent ejaculation will contain sperm, as some ejaculate is always left in the duct after orgasm.

Overproduction

A few men are bothered by the amount of pre-ejaculate fluid they produce. One physician described a patient who was embarrassed that the fluid would "soak through his pants during kissing or other mild erotic stimulation". A few case reports have indicated satisfactory results when such men are treated with a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor
5-alpha-reductase inhibitor

5a-reductase inhibitors are a group of medication with antiandrogenic activity, used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and androgenic alopecia....
.

In such cases, one doctor recommended considering the differential diagnosis
Differential diagnosis

A differential diagnosis is a systematic method used to identify unknowns. This method, essentially a process of elimination, is used by taxonomy to identify living organisms, and by physicians and other qualified healthcare professionals to diagnosis the specific disease in a patient....
 of prostatorrhea, the emission of prostatic secretions
Prostate

The prostate is a compound tubuloalveolar exocrine gland of the male mammalian reproductive system. Females do not have a prostate gland, although females do have tiny paraurethral Skene's glands connected to the distal third of the urethra in the prevaginal space that are homologous to the prostate....
 during straining associated with urination or defecation.

Religious attitudes

In Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the Demographics of Islam Divisions of Islam of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa?l-Jama?ah or Ahl as-Sunnah for short....
, the emission of pre-ejaculate fluid may require ritual purification. For many other religions, pre-ejaculate is not of significance.