Word of the Day: Cholecystectomy

For some reason, this particular word is very much on my mind. It must be to do with the time I've spent talking to Gnomus.

'Cholecystectomy' is one of those words that medical professionals coin from elements of classical Greek in order to perpetuate their control over the hoi polloi by jargonistic prowess. Essentially, it comes from Greek khole- + küstis + ek- + tomos.

Khole comes from khloë, the Greek word for 'spring green' that is also the root of 'chlorine'. (Anyone named Chloë will now realise that they have a vegetable adjective for a name.) It means 'that green stuff' which is actually 'bile pigment' — the stuff that makes some of the body's excrescences look yellow. It's not easy being green — the word khole also alludes to waste pipes.

Küstis means 'bladder' or 'pouch'. The modern compound word kholeküstis therefore means nothing more than 'gall bladder'.

The prefix ek- sometimes means 'not' but often means 'out', as in exodos, which means 'way out'. Tomos means 'a cutting', so anything '-ectomy' means something is being cut out.

Put it all together, as you probably have by now, and you have 'cholecystectomy' = 'gall-bladder-out-cutting'. That is, an operation in which the gall bladder is removed, most often to prevent recurrence of gallstones and the awful symptoms that come with that.

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Update: Yes, they have removed the thing, just before inflammation caused it to explode. The stone was of the size and granular demeanour of an olive; the method of removal was that of multiple portals — what is called the laparoscopic method. The object of the operation is doing well, and is in high spirits.