Etymology

bile

B3I1L1E1

Today it means: A bitter brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow secretion produced by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and discharged into the duodenum where it aids the process of digestion. Full definition →

Middle French bile ← Latin bīlis
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bile · noun1

  1. Latin · derived frombīlis“bile”
  2. Middle French · borrowed frombile
  3. English todaybile

From Middle French bile, from Latin bīlis (“bile”). Partially displaced native English gall (“bile”), from Middle English galle, from Old English galla, ġealla (“gall, bile”).

bile · noun, verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*būlǭ
  2. English todaybile

Obsolete form of boil. Akin to Dutch buil and German Beule, all from Proto-Germanic *būlǭ.

Words from the same roots

Latinbīlis all →

bilinbili-bilifuscinbiliprasinstercobilin

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.