pancreas

[pan-kree-uh s, pang-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pancreas ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Anatomy, Zoology.

a gland, situated near the stomach, that secretes a digestive fluid into the intestine through one or more ducts and also secretes the hormone insulin.

Compare islet of Langerhans, pancreatic juice.

Origin of pancreas

1570–80; < New Latin < Greek pánkreas sweetbread, equivalent to pan- pan- + kréas flesh, meat

Related formspan·cre·at·ic

[pan-kree-at-ik, pang-] /ˌpæn kriˈæt ɪk, ˌpæŋ-/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pancreas

heart, marrow, stomach, tongue, tripe, brains, chitlins, chitterlings, giblets, gizzard, kidneys, liver, sweetbread, testis, thymus

Examples from the Web for pancreas

Contemporary Examples of pancreas

The shot damaged his liver, lungs, pancreas and spleen and has left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Childhood Denied
Yousef Munayyer
October 2, 2013
The internal injuries cost him his spleen and part of his pancreas, but he could skate without those.
The Fall and Rise of Skateboarder Danny Renaud
Michael Daly
August 21, 2013
Eventually Jobs did have surgery, but by then it was too late—the cancer had spread beyond his pancreas.
Steve Jobs, Unvarnished
Dan Lyons
October 24, 2011
Steve Jobs was right to be optimistic when, in 2004, he announced that he had cancer in his pancreas.
Jobs Authorized Bio For Kids
October 7, 2011
The surgery removes the right side of the pancreas, the gallbladder, and parts of the stomach, bile duct, and small intestine.
Jobs’s Unorthodox Treatment
Sharon Begley
October 6, 2011

Historical Examples of pancreas

What does this great combination of powers in the pancreas mean?
A Handbook of Health
Woods Hutchinson
The gall bladder was filled with bile, and the pancreas indurated.
Cases of Organic Diseases of the Heart
John Collins Warren
So late as 1840, there was yet no clear understanding of the action of the pancreas.
Experiments on Animals
Stephen Paget
The liver and spleen are generally normal, as is the pancreas.
Scurvy Past and Present
Alfred Fabian Hess
Cancer of the pancreas can cause severe depression and insomnia.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn
Steven J. Bartlett

British Dictionary definitions for pancreas

pancreas

noun

a large elongated glandular organ, situated behind the stomach, that secretes insulin and pancreatic juice

Derived Formspancreatic (ˌpæŋkrɪˈætɪk), adjective

Word Origin for pancreas

C16: via New Latin from Greek pankreas, from pan- + kreas flesh

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pancreas

1570s, from Latinized form of Greek pankreas "sweetbread (pancreas as food), pancreas," literally "entirely flesh," from pan- "all" (see pan-) + kreas "flesh" (see raw), probably on notion of homogeneous substance of the organ.

pancreas in Medicine

pancreas

[păng′krē-əs]

n. pl. pan•cre•a•ta (păng-krē′ə-tə)

A lobulated gland without a capsule, extending from the concavity of the duodenum to the spleen, consisting of a flattened head within the duodenal concavity, an elongated three-sided body extending across the abdomen, and a tail touching the spleen, and secreting insulin and glucagon internally and pancreatic juice externally into the intestine.

Related formspan′cre•at′ic (păng′krē-ăt′ĭk) adj.

pancreas in Science

pancreas

[păng′krē-əs]

A long, irregularly shaped gland in vertebrate animals that is located behind the stomach and is part of the digestive system. It secretes hormones (insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin) into the bloodstream and digestive enzymes into the small intestine or gut. The pancreas also secretes sodium bicarbonate, which protects the lining of the intestine by neutralizing acids from the stomach.

pancreas in Culture

pancreas

[(pang-kree-uhs, pan-kree-uhs)]

A gland behind the stomach that functions in both the endocrine system and the digestive system. Its endocrine function involves the secretion into the bloodstream of insulin, which regulates the level of sugars in the blood. As part of the digestive system, the pancreas secretes into the small intestine a fluid containing enzymes that is used in the digestion of all foods.