rectum

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rectum,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin rectum,^[4][5] recorded in 1363 in Guy de Chauliac,^[4] short for Latin intestīnum rēctum (“straight intestine”).^[4][6][3][7] This is the neuter of rēctus (“straight”),^[4][3][8] the past participle of regō (“to keep straight, rule”),^[6][9] from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).^[6] Klein, following Hyrtl, calls the Latin phrase a loan translation of Ancient Greek ἀπευθυσμένον (apeuthusménon) ἔντερον (énteron), Galen's name for the part.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The last section of the gut: about 1425, in a Middle English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, which counts 6. rectum among the six intestines and says Þe laste gutte..is cleped rectum oþer longaon.^[2][4][9] Several dictionaries date the word only from the 16th century.^{[8][11][12][13][14]}

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains the name as a contrast with the convolutions of the rest of the intestines.^[7] Klein adds that Galen chose his term because he dissected only animals, in which this part really is straight, unlike in humans.^[10][6] The OED's definition says only "usually relatively straight".^[4] In 1826 Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology applied the word to the end of the hindgut in invertebrates.^[4] The adjective rectal followed in 1872.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – the last section of the large intestine.^[4][2][9]
• 1826 – the end of the hindgut in invertebrates.^[4]
• 1872 – rectal, of the rectum.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The last section of the large intestine, running from the sigmoid colon to the anus; plural rectums or recta.^{[3][13][5][4]}
2. (zoology) The end of the hindgut in many invertebrates.^[4]

Word family

• rectal

Related words

• rectangle
• rectify
• rectitude
• right

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House