Urina

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A fluid excreted by the kidneys that contains waste products and excess substances dissolved in water; the liquid waste eliminated from the body through the urinary tract; a yellowish or clear bodily secretion filtered from blood to maintain homeostasis
2. The liquid byproduct of metabolism expelled by the urinary system to remove toxins and balance body fluids; a secretion comprising water and dissolved solutes released from the bladder; a bodily fluid that carries out waste clearance via urination
3. A watery excretion produced by renal filtration to dispose of metabolic waste and regulate fluids; the liquid waste discharged from the body through the urethra; a naturally occurring bodily fluid responsible for removing excess compounds from the bloodstream

Etymology: "Urina" is the Latin word for urine, and it comes from a Proto-Indo-European root for water or wetness, the same root that gave English "wet" and "water" in their ancestral forms. In Latin it was a plain, everyday word for the liquid the body expels, and it passed into English largely as a learned borrowing used in medicine and science, where it often appears in phrases such as "urina" in older clinical writing. The more striking history lies in the medieval practice of uroscopy. Physicians examined a patient's urine in a glass flask, judging its colour, clarity and sediment to diagnose illness, and the Latin term was the standard name for the specimen. Uroscopy was a central part of diagnosis for centuries, so "urina" was less a waste product in the physician's mind than a window into the body's humours.

Synonyms: urine, pee, uric fluid, excretion, waste fluid