Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Pancreas
/ˈpæŋkriəs/noun
A gland behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and insulin.
The Greek roots
πᾶν
pân
all, every
κρέας
kréas
flesh, meat
Literally: “all flesh”
The story of the word
The name is a butcher's verdict. Greek anatomists, probably Herophilus of Chalcedon in the third century BC, called the organ all flesh because, unlike the liver or the kidney, it shows no cartilage, no bone and no obvious internal structure when you open it. Sweetbreads on a menu are often this gland. Its part in diabetes was not established until the 1880s.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
pandemicpanoramacreatinepancreatitis
In a sentence
The scan was ordered to look at the pancreas, not the liver.