Parathyroids

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A pair of small glands located behind the thyroid that play a crucial role in regulating calcium levels in the blood
2. Glands situated in the neck that produce parathyroid hormone, essential for maintaining mineral balance in the body
3. Endocrine glands that influence calcium metabolism by releasing hormones that manage bone growth and mineral release

Etymology: Parathyroid glands sit beside the thyroid, and their name is a compound built from two Greek elements. The first is "para", meaning "beside" or "near", and the second is "thyroid", which itself comes from Ancient Greek "thureoeidḗs", literally "shaped like a shield" or "oblong shield". The thyroid was named for its resemblance to the large oblong shield (thureos) once carried by Greek soldiers, and the gland was named for that shape before anyone knew what it did. The thyroid's name passed through New Latin "thyreoīdēs" into English as "thyroid", so "parathyroid" simply means "near the thyroid". The English compound follows the same pattern: the prefix "para-" is attached to the existing name, and the result describes the glands' position beside the thyroid rather than their function. Because "parathyroid" is a noun formed from a single compound, its plural "parathyroids" is just the regular English plural, adding "-s" to form the name of more than one gland.