thymus

See also: Thymus

English

Etymology

From New Latin thymus, from Ancient Greek θύμος (thúmos, “warty excrescence, (also, as used by Galen) thymus gland”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thīʹməs, IPA^(key): /ˈθaɪ.məs/
• Rhymes: -aɪməs

Noun

thymus (plural thymuses or thymi)

1. (anatomy, immunology) Ellipsis of thymus gland (“A ductless gland, consisting mainly of lymphatic tissue, located behind the top of the breastbone. It is most active during puberty, after which it shrinks in size. It plays an important role in the development of the immune system and produces lymphocytes.”).
   • 2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 234:

     For a very long time the role of the thymus in the body was a complete mystery.

Derived terms

• thymectomy
• thymic

 

Related terms

• enthymeme
• thyme

 

Translations

ductless gland located behind the breastbone

• Arabic: غُدَّة زَعْتَرِيَّة f (ḡudda zaʕtariyya), غُدَّة صَعْتَرِيَّة f (ḡudda ṣaʕtariyya)
• Azerbaijani: timus, çəngələbənzər vəzi
• Catalan: tim m, timus m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 胸腺 (zh) (xiōngxiàn)

• Czech: brzlík (cs) m
• Dutch: thymus (nl) m, zwezerik (nl) m
• Finnish: kateenkorva (fi)
• French: thymus (fr) m
• German: Thymus m, Bries (de) n
• Greek: θύμος (el) m (thýmos)
• Hungarian: csecsemőmirigy (hu)
• Ingrian: syänkorva
• Irish: faireog thímis f, tímeas m
• Italian: timo (it) m
• Japanese: 胸腺 (ja) (きょうせん, kyōsen)
• Kazakh: айырша без (aiyrşa bez)
• Korean: 흉선 (hyungseon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: rijênê tîmus m, tîmus f

• Malayalam: തൈമസ് (taimasŭ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brissel (no) m

• Polish: grasica (pl) f
• Portuguese: timo (pt) m
• Russian: ти́мус (ru) m (tímus), ви́лочковая железа́ (ru) f (víločkovaja železá)
• Spanish: timo (es) m
• Swedish: bräss (sv) c, thymus c, tymus (sv) c
• Turkish: timus
• Vietnamese: tuyến ức
• Walloon: timusse (wa) m

See also

• sweetbreads

References

• “‖thymus” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
    (ˈθaɪməs) Pl. thymi (ˈθaɪmaɪ) … a. Gr. θύμος (θῠ-)

Further reading

• “thymus”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “thymus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “thymus”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “thymus”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “thymus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “thymus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “thymus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “thymus”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• mythus

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek θύμος (thúmos, “warty excrescence”, “thymus gland”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈtʰy.mus/, [ˈt̪ʰʏmʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈti.mus/, [ˈt̪iːmus]

Noun

thymus m (genitive thymī); second declension

1. (medicine) A type of wart

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

1. (botany) thyme
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid I.436:

      […], redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.

      […], and the fragrant honey spreads back in the air its odour of thyme.

2. (anatomy, New Latin) thymus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	thymus	thymī
Genitive	thymī	thymōrum
Dative	thymō	thymīs
Accusative	thymum	thymōs
Ablative	thymō	thymīs
Vocative	thyme	thymī

Related terms

• thymium
• thymōsus
• thymum

Descendants

• → English: thymus

Swedish

Alternative forms

• tymus

Noun

thymus c

1. (anatomy, immunology) thymus

Declension

Declension of thymus
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	thymus	thymusen	thymusar	thymusarna
Genitive	thymus	thymusens	thymusars	thymusarnas

Synonyms

• bräss