ventricle

English

Etymology

From French ventricule, from Latin ventriculus (“belly, stomach, ventricle”), diminutive of venter (“belly, stomach, womb”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: vĕnʹtrĭ-kəl, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛntɹɪkəl/

Noun

ventricle (plural ventricles)

1. (anatomy, zoology) Any small cavity within a body; a hollow part or organ, especially:
   1. (anatomy) One of two lower chambers of the heart.
      • 2018, Sandeep Jauhar, Heart: a History, →ISBN, page 47:

        The muscular ventricles pump blood by contracting their fibers in response to electrical stimulation.

   2. (anatomy) One of four cavities in the brain.
   3. (archaic, anatomy, zoology) The stomach.
      • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 72:

        [On birds] "Where omitting the more general Properties, of having two Ventricles, and picking up stones to conveigh them into their second Ventricle, the Gizzern, (which provision and instinct is a supply for the want of teeth;) […] "

   4. (archaic) The womb.

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Related terms

• interventricular
• intraventricular
• ventricular
• ventriculus

Translations

one of two lower chambers of the heart

• Albanian: barkushe (sq) f
• Armenian: փորոք (hy) (pʻorokʻ)
• Catalan: ventricle m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 心室 (sam¹ sat¹)

  Mandarin: 心室 (zh) (xīnshì)

• Czech: komora (cs) f
• Danish: hjertekammer, ventrikel
• Dutch: hartkamer (nl) f, ventrikel (nl) n
• Finnish: kammio (fi)
• Georgian: პარკუჭი (ṗarḳuč̣i)
• German: Herzkammer f
• Greek: κοιλία (el) (koilía)
• Hebrew: חדר (he) m (heder)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: kamra (hu)
• Italian: ventricolo (it) m
• Japanese: 心室 (ja) (shinshitsu)
• Korean: 심실 (ko) (simsil)
• Kurdish:
• Persian: بطن (fa) (batn)
• Polish: komora (pl) f
• Portuguese: ventrículo m
• Russian: желудочек (ru) (želudoček)
• Spanish: ventrículo (es) m
• Swedish: hjärtkammare (sv) c, kammare (sv) c, ventrikel (sv) c
• Tagalog: silid-tibukan
• Vietnamese: tâm thất (vi)

one of the cavities of the brain

• Catalan: ventricle m
• Finnish: aivokammio (fi)
• Greek: κοιλία (el) f (koilía)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: anaroro
• Portuguese: ventrículo m
• Swedish: ventrikel (sv)

See also

• atrium

Further reading

• “ventricle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ventricle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.