Ostomy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medical surgical operation that establishes an artificial passage for waste removal from the body
2. A procedure designed to create an external outlet allowing the discharge of bodily waste
3. A medical operation that forms an artificial opening in the body to allow waste to exit

Etymology: The word "ostomy" is a back-formation, meaning it was created by trimming a longer word rather than building one up from parts. Surgeons had long used terms such as "colostomy" (an opening made into the colon), "ileostomy" (an opening into the ileum, the lower part of the small intestine), and "gastrostomy" (an opening into the stomach). Each of these ends in the same element, "-stomy," from Greek "stoma," meaning "mouth" or "opening." Speakers noticed that this shared ending could stand alone as a general name for the whole category of operation, and so the shorter form was carved out of the longer ones. Because the word was formed by removing a piece from its relatives, its meaning is the shared idea those relatives all express: an artificial opening made surgically. The word therefore does not name a specific organ, only the kind of procedure, and the organ is supplied by the prefix on the longer terms.