rectal

Etymology

It is formed from English rectum + -al,^[2][3][4][5] after French rectal, recorded in 1812.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged analyses it as the combining form rect- with -al.^[6] The noun is from post-classical Latin rectum, short for Latin intestīnum rēctum (“straight intestine”),^[2][3][7] the neuter of rēctus (“straight”),^[2][7] the past participle of regō (“to keep straight”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).^[3][7] The OED compares the earlier adjective rectual.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the rectum: 1826, in John Lizars's System of Anatomical Plates.^[2][6] Etymonline dates it to 1822,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1870–75,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 19th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has always been a term of anatomy and medicine,^[5] and its use widened from what belongs to the rectum to what is used or measured in it, or done by way of it.^[2] The adverb rectally, by way of the rectum, is dated by the Shorter Oxford to the early 20th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1826 – of or relating to the rectum.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or located near the rectum: rectal bleeding.^[6][9][2]
2. Used, given or measured in or by way of the rectum: a rectal thermometer.^[2][5]

Word family

• rectally
• anorectal
• colorectal
• postrectal
• prerectal

Related words

• rectum
• rectus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins