sphincter

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin sphinctēr (“contractile muscle”)^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and, according to Barnhart and Etymonline, borrowed from Middle French sphincter, found in Rabelais in 1548.^[3][4] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek σφιγκτήρ (sphinktḗr, “band, lace; contractile muscle”),^[6][4][7] from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to bind tight, squeeze”).^[6][4][8] The anatomical sense of the Greek noun was first used by Galen.^[4][7] The origin of the verb is unknown according to Etymonline and uncertain according to Klein;^[4][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged compares Latin spatium,^[9] and Beekes thinks the alternation between forms with and without a nasal may be due to prenasalization in Pre-Greek.^[8] The OED takes the name Sphinx as apparently from the same verb.^[6][4] Beekes adds that the Greek word family gave Latin spinter (“bracelet”) and spintria (“male prostitute”), the latter from the muscle's anal sense.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A contractile ring of muscle that keeps an opening of the body closed: 1578, in J. Banister's Historie of Man.^{[6][3][9][10]}

Semantic evolution

The word came into English with its anatomical meaning already fixed, and most uses are specialized: there are several sphincters in the body, but the one usually meant is the sphincter ani.^[4] The transferred and figurative use dates from 1737, in M. Green's The Spleen,^[6] and in the mid 18th century it also came to mean a narrow contractile opening in general.^[11] From 1879 it was used attributively, in sphincter control and similar terms;^[10] sphincter control is voluntary control of the sphincter of the anus.^[11]

Timeline

• 1578 – a ring of muscle that closes a bodily opening.^[6][3][9]
• 1737 – transferred and figurative uses.^[6]
• mid 18th century – a narrow contractile opening.^[11]
• 1879 – attributive use, as in sphincter control.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ring of muscle around a bodily opening or channel, which closes it by contracting: the anal sphincter.^{[9][12][13][6]}
2. A narrow, usually contractile, circular opening.^[11]

Word family

• sphincteral
• sphincteric
• sphincterial
• sphinctered
• sphincterotomy

Related words

• sphinx

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins