gastric

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin gastricus (“of the stomach”),^[2][3][4][5] formed from Ancient Greek γαστήρ (gastḗr, “stomach, belly”), genitive γαστρός (gastrós);^[2][6][7] Ayto has the Latin word come through French gastrique.^[5] The OED, Barnhart, Klein and Merriam-Webster instead take it as formed in English from the Greek stem and -ic.^[8][6][7][9] The Greek noun also meant "paunch" and "womb".^[2][9] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster explain it as a dissimilated form of an assumed word meaning "eater", from γράω (gráō, “to gnaw, eat”),^[2][9][5] from Proto-Indo-European *gras- (“to devour”), the source also of γράστις (grástis, “green fodder”), Latin grāmen (“grass, fodder”) and, through Old English, of cress.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the stomach: 1656, in Blount's Glossographia.^[8][6][9] Etymonline dates it to the 1650s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning; most of its later history is in fixed phrases.^[8][3] Gastric juice, the acid fluid secreted by glands in the stomach, is recorded from 1724 in Bailey's dictionary (Barnhart: 1730–36).^[8][6] Gastric fever was used loosely; it now usually means an enteric fever or typhoid.^[3][8] In zoology a gastric mill is the grinding apparatus in the stomach of crustaceans (1897), or a bird's gizzard with the stones it swallows.^[8][3] Gastric flu is a colloquial name for a stomach upset of unknown or supposedly viral cause.^[3]

Timeline

• 1656 – relating to the stomach.^[8][6][9]
• 1724 – gastric juice.^[8] Barnhart dates the phrase to 1730–36.^[6]
• 1897 – gastric mill, in the stomach of crustaceans.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, situated near or arising in the stomach: a gastric ulcer.^[10][9][8]
2. (zoology) Resembling a stomach in form or function, as in some invertebrates.^[9][8]

Word family

• digastric
• epigastric
• hypogastric
• monogastric
• nasogastric
• pneumogastric
• postgastric

Related words

• gastro-
• gastronomy
• gastropod
• cress

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins