Viscerating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of taking out the internal organs from a body, animal, or plant
2. The action of extracting viscera, which are the internal parts within an organism
3. The act of removing the inner organs from a creature or specimen

Etymology: "Viscerating" is the present participle and gerund of "viscerate", so the history belongs to the base verb. "Viscerate" is formed from "viscera", the plural of Latin "viscus", meaning an internal organ of the body. English borrowed the Latin plural directly, and the verb was built on it to mean removing the internal organs of a body. Because the verb describes a specific act, its sense has stayed concrete. The Latin "viscus" itself is a word for the organs found inside the body, and English kept that anatomical core rather than shifting it toward the figurative uses that many Latin-derived words acquired.

Synonyms: disemboweling, eviscerating