celiac

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin coeliacus,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek κοιλιακός (koiliakós, “of the belly; suffering in the bowels”),^[2][6] from κοιλία (koilía, “belly, bowels, abdominal cavity”),^[2][5][7] from κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”).^[2][5][8] The Greek adjective is related to Latin cavus (“hollow”), the source of cave,^[8][3] and Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace it to Proto-Indo-European *keuə- (“to swell; vault, hole”).^[5][4] The OED compares French cœliaque, spelled celiaque by Cotgrave.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, the coeliac passion, an intestinal disease: 1661, in R. Lovell's Panzoologicomineralogia ("The spleen ... helpeth the cœliack").^[2] As an adjective, of the belly or the cavity of the abdomen, it follows in 1662, in J. Chandler's translation of van Helmont's Oriatrike, in "the Cœliack or belly passion".^[2][3] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1660s,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1655–65.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was applied both to the abdomen and to an intestinal disease; the OED describes the disease as one chiefly of children, with poor digestion of fats.^[2] The name celiac disease is recorded from 1911,^[3] and is now used for the sensitivity of the lining of the small intestine to gluten.^[7][3] In anatomy the adjective names parts in the abdominal cavity, such as the celiac artery and plexus,^[3] and as a noun it means a person with celiac disease.^[3][9]

Timeline

• 1661 – noun, the coeliac passion, an intestinal disease.^[2]
• 1662 – adjective, of the belly or abdominal cavity.^[2][3]
• 1911 – celiac disease.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy) Of or relating to the abdominal cavity: the celiac artery.^[3][9][2]
2. Of, relating to or having celiac disease: a celiac diet.^[3][7][1]

Noun

1. A person who has celiac disease.^[3][9][1]
2. (anatomy) A part in the abdominal cavity, such as an artery or nerve.^[3]

Word family

• celiac disease
• celiac plexus

Related words

• coelom
• cave

Usage notes

Celiac is the usual American spelling,^[9][7] and British English writes coeliac;^[9][7] and Etymonline treats celiac as an alternative spelling of it.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives coeliac as a less common variant in American use.^[3] In the 17th and 18th centuries the word was also spelled coeliack.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins