Etymologically
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gastric

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɡæstɹɪk/[1]

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
  • 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