Digestion

How it is used

Physiology courses follow digestion from the mouth to the intestines. The adjective digestive is very common: digestive system, digestive enzymes, digestive tract. The verb is digest.

Example sentences

1. The digestion of starch begins in the mouth with an enzyme in saliva.

2. Most chemical digestion and absorption happen in the small intestine.

Common collocations

• chemical digestion
• mechanical digestion
• digestive system
• digestive enzyme
• digestive tract

Related terms

• stomachThe J-shaped muscular bag between the esophagus and the small intestine. It stores food, mixes it with acid and enzymes, and passes it on slowly to the duodenum.
• small intestineThe long, coiled tube between the stomach and the large intestine, made up of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Most digestion and absorption of nutrients happens here.
• enzymeA protein that speeds up a specific chemical reaction in the body without being used up. Digestive enzymes, for example, break food down into molecules small enough to be absorbed.
• absorptionThe process by which digested nutrients, water and other substances pass from the gut into the blood or lymph, mostly through the wall of the small intestine.
• liverThe large organ in the upper right abdomen that processes nutrients, makes bile and many blood proteins, stores glycogen, and breaks down drugs, alcohol and toxins.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• digestion · Nutrition & Dietetics

More terms: Digestive and Urinary Systems

• kidney
• large intestine
• esophagus
• pancreas
• bladder