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• anus
  anus

  noun

  the opening at the lower end of the alimentary canal, through which the solid refuse of digestion is excreted.
• -anus
  -anus

  a suffix occurring in scientific words of Latin origin.

anus

¹ American  

[ey-nuhs] / ˈeɪ nəs /

noun

Anatomy.

• anuses
  plural

1. the opening at the lower end of the alimentary canal, through which the solid refuse of digestion is excreted.

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-anus ² American  

1. a suffix occurring in scientific words of Latin origin.

   Platanus.

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anus British  

/ ˈeɪnəs /

noun

1. the excretory opening at the end of the alimentary canal

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anus Scientific  

/ ā′nəs /

1. The opening at the lower end of the digestive tract through which solid waste is excreted.

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anus Cultural  

1. The opening through which feces pass out of the body.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• anuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of anus¹

First recorded in 1650–60, anus is from the Latin word ānus ring, anus

Origin of -anus²

< Latin -ānus; see -an

Explanation

The anus is the hole in the middle of your buttocks. When you poop or fart, you're using your anus. When you talk about your anus, you're using a formal, scientific word. Many kids and adults are more likely to use a slangy term like butthole or bunghole when discussing their anus, but if you're speaking to adults or writing a paper, anus is the word you want. The anus might seem like a funny part of the body, and maybe it is, but it's also incredibly important. Without an anus, you'd die.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anus -anus anuses

You’re also at risk of developing hemorrhoids—swollen veins in the anus and lower rectum that can cause pain and bleeding—according to a study that came out last week.

From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2025

The head-tail axis determines the position of the two body openings, the mouth and anus.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2024

The gut refers to our gastrointestinal tract that includes a series of hollow organs that are connected in a long, windy tube from the mouth all the way to the anus.

From Salon ● May 10, 2024

So far, she has stuck her head in a box with snakes, eaten pizza topped with scorpions and cow anus, and faced electric shocks while crawling through a tunnel.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2023

At the second it was in position at the base of his tail, Richard Parker’s anus distended, and out of it, like a bubble-gum balloon, came a black sphere of excrement.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Quantity of the Latin Termination -anus.—Proper names having the termination -anus are always long in Latin and short in Greek; thus, the Claudiānus, Luciānus, &c. of the Latins are Κλαυδιᾰνος and Λουκιᾰνος in Greek.

From Notes and Queries, Number 208, October 22, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by George Bell

It’s honeydew, a sweet substance excreted out of the lanternflies’ anuses as they feed in the canopy above.

From National Geographic ● Aug. 31, 2023

The authors describe parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs inside the cocoons of other parasitoid wasps, for example, and leeches that spend their entire lives inside the anuses of hippopotamuses.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 17, 2022

Prior to the discovery of the transient anus, we didn't just think comb jellies had anuses, but that they might have two.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2021

But scientists have always been uncertain how wombats – which have circular anuses – fashion their feces into their unusual shape.

From Fox News ● Jul. 14, 2020

Despite having round anuses like other mammals, wombats do not produce round pellets, tubular coils or messy piles.

From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2018