Ventricular

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to the lower chambers of the heart that pump blood ; connected to the cavities within the brain that contain cerebrospinal fluid
2. Associated with the heart's ventricles responsible for pumping blood to the lungs and body ; related to fluid-filled spaces in the brain that help protect and nourish it
3. Having a connection to the thick-walled chambers in the heart that circulate blood ; describing the hollow structures in the brain involved in producing and circulating cerebrospinal fluid

Etymology: The heart and the brain share a surprisingly humble ancestor: the Latin word "venter", meaning belly. A "ventriculus" was a little belly, a diminutive formed from it, and Latin writers used it for any small cavity that looked like a stomach. Anatomists later applied the same idea to hollow spaces inside organs, which is how "ventricle" came to name the chambers of the heart and the fluid-filled cavities of the brain. "Ventricular" is simply the adjective built on that noun, with the suffix "-ar" meaning "relating to". It was formed in New Latin, the scientific Latin used by European scholars and physicians from the Renaissance onward, so the adjective describes anatomy as learned writers conceived it rather than as ancient Romans described the body.

Synonyms: cavitary, chambered