entrails
pronunciation
How to pronounce entrails in British English:
UK [ˈentreɪlz]
How to pronounce entrails in American English:
US [ˈɛnˌtrelz, -trəlz]
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- Noun:
- internal organs collectively (especially those in the abdominal cavity)
Word Origin
- entrails
- entrails: [13] Entrails means literally just ‘insides’ – and indeed there is an unbroken semantic undercurrent to the word from earliest times to the present day signifying exactly that (as in ‘entrails of the earth’). It comes ultimately from the Latin adjective interāneus ‘internal’, a derivative of the adverb and preposition inter ‘inside, among’. Its neuter plural form interānea came to be used as a noun, and at some point underwent a metamorphosis to medieval Latin intrālia ‘inner parts, intestines’. English acquired the word via Old French entrailles.
- entrails (n.)
- "internal parts of animal bodies," c. 1300, from Old French entrailles (12c.), from Late Latin intralia "inward parts, intestines" (8c.), from altered form of Latin interanea, noun use of neuter plural of interaneus "internal, that which is within," from inter "between, among" (see inter-). Latin interanea yielded Late Latin intrania, hence Italian entrango, Spanish entrañas, Old French entraigne; the alternative form that led to the Modern English word evidently is from influence of the Latin neuter plural (collective) adjective suffix -alia (French -aille).
Example
- 1. An educational close-up of a sword-swallower and his entrails
- 2. They did not know how the tree could have come there during the night , but two-eyes saw that it had grown up out of the entrails of the goat , for it was standing on the exact spot where she had buried them .
- 3. However , the pufferfish is usually harmless if the entrails completely are removed and the if cavity is washed thoroughly prior to cooking .
- 4. It was not long before charlatans exploited the need for reassurance in an uncertain world to tell their customers they could make better decisions by examining the entrails of sacrificial animals and observing the movements of the planets .
- 5. In many ways the scottish people are just like your typical europeans but with a few notable quirks : they eat sheep entrails , wear male-skirts and instead of rice , they throw stinking crud like eggs and sauces on their brides .