pancreas
pronunciation
How to pronounce pancreas in British English:
UK [ˈpæŋkriəs]
How to pronounce pancreas in American English:
US [ˈpæŋkriəs, ˈpæn-]
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- Noun:
- a large elongated exocrine gland located behind the stomach; secretes pancreatic juice and insulin
Word Origin
- pancreas
- pancreas: [16] Etymologically, pancreas means ‘all-flesh’. It is a modern Latin adaptation of Greek págkreas, a compound formed from the prefix pan- ‘all’ and kréas ‘flesh’. This was presumably an allusion to the homogeneous substance of the organ. The term sweetbread, denoting the ‘pancreas used as food’, also dates from the 16th century. The -bread element may represent Old English brǣd ‘flesh’ rather than modern English bread.=> raw
- pancreas (n.)
- 1570s, from Latinized form of Greek pankreas "sweetbread (pancreas as food), pancreas," literally "entirely flesh," from pan- "all" (see pan-) + kreas "flesh" (see raw), probably on notion of homogeneous substance of the organ.
Example
- 1. I didn 't even know what a pancreas was .
- 2. This prompts the pancreas to pump out more and more of it .
- 3. That gives the pancreas a rest .
- 4. During a routine abdominal scan , doctors had discovered a tumor growing in his pancreas .
- 5. Eventually , the insulin-making beta cells in the pancreas may give out .