hepatic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English epatik, also epatic,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French hepatique^[3][5][4] and directly borrowed from Latin hēpaticus (“of or belonging to the liver”),^[6][3][4][7] from Ancient Greek ἡπατικός (hēpatikós),^[6][4][8] from ἧπαρ (hêpar, “liver”), genitive ἥπατος (hḗpatos),^[4][8][9] with the suffix -ic.^[4][7] The Greek noun is cognate with Latin iecur (“liver”) and Lithuanian jaknos.^[10][8][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Suffering from a disease of the liver: 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, frentik men and epatike; this sense is now obsolete.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1420 it described a liver-coloured, dark brownish red, as in hepatic aloes,^[6][2] and in the 15th century the epatic veine was the basilic vein of the arm.^[2] As a noun it meant a medicine for the liver from 1486.^[6][3] The general sense "of or relating to the liver" is recorded only from 1599,^[6][10] and "acting on the liver" from 1671.^[6] In older chemistry hepatic meant sulphurous, and hepatic air was hydrogen sulphide (1651).^[6] Botanists used it for the liverworts from 1824, after the class name Hepaticae.^[6][10]

Timeline

• 1398 – affected with a liver disease (obsolete).^[6][2]
• c. 1420 – liver-coloured, dark brownish red.^[6]
• 1486 – noun, a medicine acting on the liver.^[6][3]
• 1599 – of or relating to the liver.^[6][10]
• 1651 – sulphurous, as in hepatic air, hydrogen sulphide.^[6]
• 1671 – acting on the liver, good for the liver.^[6]
• 1824 – a liverwort.^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the noun in this sense to 1900.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or affecting the liver: hepatic disease.^[12][10][6]
2. Having the colour of liver; dark brownish red.^[12][10][6]
3. (botany) Of or relating to the liverworts.^[12][10]

Noun

1. A liverwort.^[12][10][6]
2. (obsolete) A medicine for disorders of the liver.^[12][6]

Word family

• extrahepatic
• gastrohepatic
• nonhepatic
• posthepatic
• subhepatic
• hepatic duct

Related words

• hepatectomy
• hepatica
• hepatitis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins