pancreas
UK /ˈpæŋkɹɪəs/ · US /ˈpæŋ.kɹi.əs/ noun
Forms pancreases pancreata
- noun (anatomy) A gland near the stomach which secretes a fluid into the duodenum to assist with food digestion.
Synonyms
Etymology
Existing in English since the sixteenth century: from Latin pancreas, from Ancient Greek πάγκρεας (pánkreas), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) (equivalent to English pan-) + κρέας (kréas, “flesh”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The sweetbread, a gland connected with the intestine of nearly all vertebrates. It is usually elongated and light-colored, and its secretion, called the pancreatic juice, is discharged, often together with the bile, into the upper part of the intestines, and is a powerful aid in digestion. See Illust. of Digestive apparatus.
Etymology [NL., fr. Gr. pancréas.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pancreas”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details