cyst

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin cystis,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} with its ending dropped;^[4] the Latin form was itself used in English from 1543 to 1758.^[4][2][3] The OED calls the Latin word medieval or modern Latin,^[2] the Oxford Dictionary of English and Chambers call it Late Latin.^[7][8] It is from Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “bladder, pouch”).^[2][3][4][9] Etymonline calls the Greek word of uncertain origin.^[3] Barnhart connects it with Latin queror (“to complain”) and Old Norse hvæsa (“to wheeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwes-,^[4] and Klein takes it as probably cognate with a Sanskrit verb meaning to blow, breathe or sigh.^[9] French has kyste.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sac enclosing a hydatid, the larva of a tapeworm: 1713, in William Cheselden's Anatomy of the Humane Body.^[2] The Latin form cystis had been used from 1543, in Traheron's translation of Vigo.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The earliest uses are anatomical and medical: a natural hollow organ or sac holding a liquid secretion, a bladder or vesicle, from 1721,^[2] and an abnormal closed sac filled with liquid or semisolid matter, from 1731, in Bailey's dictionary.^[2] From 1857 botanists also used it for a cell or cavity containing reproductive bodies, such as the spore case of certain fungi.^[2]

Timeline

• 1543 – cystis, the Latin form.^[2][4]
• 1713 – the sac enclosing a tapeworm larva.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1713 for a bladder-like bag in an animal body.^[3]
• 1721 – a natural hollow organ or sac with a liquid secretion.^[2]
• 1731 – an abnormal sac containing liquid or semisolid matter.^[2]
• 1857 – in botany, a cell or cavity containing spores or embryos.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pathology) An abnormal closed sac with a membrane of its own, containing fluid or semisolid matter: The surgeon drained a small cyst on her wrist.^[6][10][2]
2. (anatomy) A normal sac or vesicle in the body; a bladder.^[6][2]
3. (biology) A tough protective capsule around a cell, larva or small organism in a resting stage, or a resting spore of some algae.^[6][10][2]

Word family

• cystectomy
• cystidium
• cystoid

Related words

• cystic
• cist

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also lists cyst as a spelling of cist, probably influenced by the medical word.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster