• enteric •
Pronunciation: en-ter-rik • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Pertaining to the intestines or, more generally, the digestive tract. 2. Designed to pass through the stomach unaltered and disintegrate in the intestines.
Notes: Here is a word that has become much more useful recently since it can now be used in the second sense above, where the sense of intestinal is too broad. Enteritis refers to acute inflammation of the intestines and enterosis refers to any noninflammatory condition of the intestines. The study or treatment of the intestines is enterology.
In Play: This word needs to be freed from medicalese: "Probiotics are thought to promote enteric bacteria." The new, second sense is useful, too: "Enteric coating protects the probiotics from stomach acid and increases the number of bacteria reaching the intestines."
Word History: Today's Good Word arose in the medical profession based on the Greek word for "intestinal", enterikos, the adjective for entera "intestines", singular enteron. This word was made from PIE en-tero- "inward", apparently an adjectival form of en- "in(to)". The extended form is also found in Sanskrit antastya- "entrails, intestines", Greek entos "within, inside", Latin inter "between, among", Cornish ynter "between", Irish idir "between, among", Breton etre "between', Serbian jetra "liver", Czech játra "liver", German unter "under" and Niere "kidney", and English under. (Now another note of gratitude to Professor Kyu Ho Youm of the University of Oregon for yet another educational Good Word.)
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