intestine
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
The alimentary canal of an animal through which food passes after having passed all stomachs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihntehstuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈtɛstən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
anatomyoften pluralized
The alimentary canal of an animal through which food passes after having passed all stomachs.
One of certain subdivisions of this part of the alimentary canal, such as the small or large intestine in human beings.
adjective
Domestic; taking place within a given country or region.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The alimentary canal of an animal through which food passes after having passed all stomachs.
Used this way, intestine is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- bowel , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Related to The alimentary canal of an animal through which food passes after having passed all stomachs.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Beginning with the cecum and ending with the rectum.
The longest part of the alimentary canal.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Surgical operation that shortens the small intestine.
Inflammation of the stomach and intestines.
Secretions by glands lining the walls of the intestines.
Blockage of the intestine (especially the ileum) that prevents the contents of the intestine from passing to the lower bowel.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.