ventricle

Etymology

From late Middle English, from Latin ventriculus (“the belly”), diminutive of venter (“the belly”). Doublet of ventriculus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: vĕnʹtrĭk-əl, IPA^(key): /ˈvɛn.tɹɪk.əl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntɹɪkəl

Noun

ventricle (plural ventricles)

1. (anatomy, zootomy) Any small cavity within a body; a hollow part or organ, especially:
   1. One of two lower chambers of the heart.

      Synonym: cardioventricle

      Coordinate term: atrium

      Meronyms: left ventricle, right ventricle

      • 2018, Sandeep Jauhar, Heart: a History, →ISBN, page 47:

        The muscular ventricles pump blood by contracting their fibers in response to electrical stimulation.

   2. (neuroanatomy) One of four fluid-filled cavities in the brain, that are continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord.

      Synonym: cerebroventricle

      Meronyms: fourth ventricle, lateral ventricle, third ventricle

      • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

        the ventricle of memory

   3. (archaic) A ventriculus; especially, a stomach.
      • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II: A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, page 72:

        [On birds] Where omitting the more general Properties, of having two Ventricles, and picking up stones to conveigh them into their second Ventricle, the Gizzern, (which provision and instinct is a supply for the want of teeth;) […]

   4. (archaic) The womb.

References

• “ventricle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “ventricle”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Further reading

• “ventricle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ventricle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.