caecum

See also: cæcum

English

Diagram of the digestive tract, with the caecum marked in red.

Alternative forms

• cæcum (obsolete)
• cecum (US)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin caecum (“invisible, hidden”), clipping of intestīnum caecum (“blind gut”), translation of Ancient Greek τῠφλὸν ἔντερον (tuphlòn énteron).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.kəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːkəm

Noun

caecum (plural caecums or caeca)

1. (anatomy) A cavity open at one end (such as the blind end of a duct), especially a blind pouch connected to the large intestine between the ileum and the colon.

   Synonym: blind gut

   • 1970, J. G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition:

     After a preliminary course in anatomy it was found that caecum and transverse colon also provided excellent sites for excitation.

Derived terms

• caecal
• caecally
• caecitis
• caeco-, caec-
• caecostomy
• caecotrophy
• mesocaecum
• punctum caecum
• pyloric caecum

 

Translations

blind pouch connected to the large intestine

• Afrikaans: sekum (af)
• Armenian: կույր աղիք (kuyr aġikʻ)
• Asturian: ciegu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: korbağırsaq
• Bulgarian: сляпо черво n (sljapo červo)
• Catalan: cec (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盲腸／盲肠 (zh) (mángcháng)

• Czech: slepé střevo (cs) n
• Danish: blindtarm (da) c
• Finnish: umpisuoli (fi)
• French: cæcum (fr) m, cécum (fr) m
• Galician: cego (gl) m, intestino cego m, paiolo (gl) m
• Georgian: ბრმა ნაწლავი (ka) (brma nac̣lavi)
• German: Blinddarm (de) m
• Hungarian: vakbél (hu)
• Icelandic: botnristill (is) m
• Ido: ceko (io)
• Irish: caochán (ga) m
• Japanese: 盲腸 (ja) (もうちょう, mōchō)
• Kumyk: сокъур ичек (soqur içek)
• Maori: kopa whēkau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: blindtarm m

  Nynorsk: blindtarm m

• Polish: jelito ślepe (pl) n
• Portuguese: ceco (pt) m
• Romanian: cec (ro) n, cecum (ro) n
• Russian: слепа́я кишка́ (ru) f (slepája kišká)
• Slovak: slepé črevo (sk) n
• Spanish: ciego (es) m, intestino ciego (es) m
• Swedish: blindtarm (sv) c
• Turkish: kör bağırsak (tr), çekum (tr)
• Ukrainian: сліпа кишка f (slipa kyška)
• Vietnamese: ruột tịt, manh tràng
• Welsh: coluddyn dall m

References

• “caecum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cecum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• ceacum

French

Noun

caecum f (plural caecums)

1. Alternative spelling of cæcum

Further reading

• “caecum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkae̯.kum/, [ˈkäe̯kʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃe.kum/, [ˈt͡ʃɛːkum]

Etymology 1

From caecus (“having no light; uncertain, doubtful”).

Noun

caecum n (genitive caecī); second declension

1. (poetic) Uncertainty, obscurity.

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	caecum	caeca
genitive	caecī	caecōrum
dative	caecō	caecīs
accusative	caecum	caeca
ablative	caecō	caecīs
vocative	caecum	caeca

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

caecum

1. inflection of caecus:
   1. accusative masculine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular

References

• “caecus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press