Ilea

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The final section of the small intestine, where most nutrients from digested food are absorbed into the bloodstream
2. Sections of the lowest part of the small bowel, which absorb vitamins, fats and other nutrients after food leaves the stomach
3. Parts of the small intestine that lie between the jejunum and the large bowel, responsible for taking up nutrients from food

Etymology: "Ilea" is the plural of "ileum," the final and longest section of the small intestine. The singular comes via Medieval Latin from the Latin "ilia," a word meaning the entrails or flanks, and that Latin plural is the root of the anatomical term. Medieval Latin writers borrowed the form to name this coiled lower stretch of bowel, and English anatomists took the term over from there. The plural is built the way many Latin-derived medical words are: the English form keeps the Latin ending, so "ileum" becomes "ilea" rather than "ileums." The word's family also includes "ilium," the broad bone of the hip, which shares the same Latin source and reflects the older sense of the flank region where the intestines and hip lie close together.