entrails

American  

[en-treylz, -truhlz] / ˈɛn treɪlz, -trəlz /

plural noun

1. the internal parts of the trunk of an animal body.

2. the intestines.

3. the internal parts of anything.

   the entrails of a machine.

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entrails British  

/ ˈɛntreɪlz /

plural noun

1. the internal organs of a person or animal; intestines; guts

2. the innermost parts of anything

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Etymology

Origin of entrails

1250–1300; Middle English entrailles < Anglo-French, Middle French < Vulgar Latin *interālia (compare early Medieval Latin intrālia ), alteration, by suffix change ( see -al ¹), of Latin interānea guts, neuter plural of interāneus; see inter-, -an, -eous

Explanation

Use the word entrails when you want to refer — in a not too gory way — to the internal organs of a person or animal, particularly a dead one. If the inner parts of an animal are exposed, you can call them its entrails. The organs, particularly the intestines, are collectively known as an animal's entrails, and it's more common to refer to them this way if they're visible or removed from the body. Sometimes the noun entrails is used to mean the inside of something else, like the entrails of a street that's been dug up and exposed. The Latin interanea, or "internal," is the root of entrails.

Example Sentences

The circuit board from an old talking doll that was all the rage in 1985 gets the solemn description: “Teddy Ruxpin’s Holy Entrails Excised Under Unknown Circumstances.”

From Seattle Times • Nov. 10, 2021

And Hegesander the Delphian says that Jupiter is worshipped in Cyprus, under the names of Eilapinastes or the Feaster, and of Splanchnotomus or the Carver of Entrails.

From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us

O that the heat thou rob'dst me of, had burnt Within my Entrails, and begot a feaver, Or some worse sickness, for thou art a disease Sharper than any Physick gives a name to.

From The Laws of Candy Beaumont & Fletcher's Works (3 of 10) by Beaumont, Francis

My uncle, the Catechist, is Tioakoekoe, Man Whose Entrails Were Roasted on a Stick, and his brother is called Pootuhatuha, meaning Sliced and Distributed.

From White Shadows in the South Seas by O'Brien, Frederick

But the Patient must be oblig'd to lie on his Belly for some Days successively, to cicatrize the Wound thereof, or that of the Entrails.

From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel

Related Words

• insides