bile duct

American  

noun

Anatomy.

bile ducts plural

1. a large duct that transports bile from the liver to the duodenum, having in humans and many other vertebrates a side branch to a gallbladder for bile storage.

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bile duct Scientific  

1. Any of the passages that carry bile from the liver or gallbladder to the duodenum.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bile ducts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bile duct

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bile duct

Thirteen of those deaths were attributed to vanishing bile duct syndrome, a condition marked by the destruction of the ducts that carry bile out of the liver.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

How serious bile duct cancer is depends on where it is in the bile ducts, how big it is, if it has spread, and your general health.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

CA19-9 levels can rise in non-cancerous conditions like pancreatitis or bile duct obstruction, and some people do not produce the marker at all due to genetic differences.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 23, 2026

“While recovering from the transplant, he contracted a bile duct infection, which led to hemodialysis to filter out the toxins in his body.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2025

It has a short excretory duct, about half as wide as a crow quill, which enters the duodenum at the same place where the bile duct enters it.

From Popular Lectures on Zoonomia Or The Laws of Animal Life, in Health and Disease by Garnett, Thomas