yellow bile

American  

noun

1. one of the four elemental bodily humors of medieval physiology, regarded as causing anger; choler.

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yellow bile British  

noun

1. archaic one of the four bodily humours, choler

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Etymology

Origin of yellow bile

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

The four-humors theory—that illness came from imbalances in blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—was “common sense” to them.

From Slate • Sep. 26, 2025

Take humoral theory: In the Middle Ages, the body was thought to consist of four liquid components called humors—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm.

From National Geographic • Nov. 29, 2023

A hot and dry person was thought to be choleric and ruled by yellow bile, associated with childhood and summer.

From Washington Post • Nov. 7, 2022

For the most part, the body took care of this naturally: black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm were expelled through excrement, sweat, tears, and nasal discharge.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 7, 2019

I accidentally broke a gallbladder, spilling a thin yellow bile that I then had to carefully rinse off the carcass.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan