Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Thyroid
/ˈθaɪrɔɪd/noun
The gland in the front of the neck that makes the hormones setting metabolic rate.
The Greek roots
θυρεός
thyreós
oblong shield
εἶδος
eîdos
form, shape
Literally: “shield-shaped”
The story of the word
Galen named the shield-shaped cartilage, the lump we call the Adam's apple. The gland took its name later and only because it sits behind that cartilage; nobody ever thought the gland looked like a shield. The shield in question, the thyreós, was the big oblong body shield, itself named from thýra, a door, because it was about the size of one. So the gland is named after a shield named after a door.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
thyroxineparathyroidhyperthyroidism
In a sentence
Her thyroid had been underactive for years before anyone tested for it.