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kidney

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Kidney

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Diagram of a human kidney with major structures labeled.
1. renal pyramid • 2. interlobular artery • 3. renal artery • 4. renal vein 5. renal hilum • 6. renal pelvis • 7. ureter • 8. minor calyx • 9. renal capsule • 10. inferior renal capsule • 11. superior renal capsule • 12. interlobular vein • 13. nephron • 14. renal sinus • 15. major calyx • 16. renal papilla • 17. renal column
Explainer video about the human kidney

Etymology

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From Middle English kideney, kydeney, alteration of earlier kidenere (“kidney”) after ey (“egg”), of obscure origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kidde (“sack”)Middle English nere (“kidney”). The first element would be from Old English *cydde (“sack, scrotum”), from Proto-Germanic *kuddijā (“sack”), as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare Old High German nioro (“kidney", also "testicle”), Old Swedish vig-niauri (“testicle”)); the second is from Old English *nēora or Middle Low German nēre (“kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *neurō, from Proto-Germanic *neurô (“kidney”), from Proto-Indo-European *negʷʰr- (“kidney”). If so, then related to dialectal English near (“kidney”), Scots neir (“kidney”), Saterland Frisian Njuure (“kidney”), Dutch nier (“kidney”), German Niere (“kidney”), Danish nyre (“kidney”), Norwegian nyre (“kidney”), Swedish njure (“kidney”), Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós).

An alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”), though the loss of /w/ is difficult to explain.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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kidney (plural kidneys)

  2. An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 124:
      The liver and the kidneys of animals have long been gastronomically popular for their aphrodisiac properties.
    • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎[1], volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
      An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
  3. This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
  4. (figuratively, dated) Constitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
  5. (obsolete, slang) A waiter.
    • 1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler‎[3], volume 1:
      I once more desire my readers to consider that as I cannot keep an ingenious man to go daily to Will's under twopence each day merely for his charges, to White's under sixpence, nor to the Grecian without allowing him some plain Spanish, to be as able as others at the learned table; and that a good observer cannot speak with even Kidney at St. James's without clean linen; […]

Synonyms

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Holonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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an organ in the body
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See also

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References

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Anagrams

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