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Anatomy & Physiology vocabulary · Digestive and Urinary Systems

Large intestine

Meaning in anatomy & physiology, with examples

nounCommon term

In anatomy & physiology, large intestine means: The final part of the digestive tract, from the cecum to the rectum and anus. It absorbs water and salts from what remains of digested food, and it forms and stores feces.

In Turkish: kalın bağırsak

How it is used

Its main part is the colon (ascending, transverse, descending and sigmoid colon). Clinicians often say large bowel or simply colon. It contains huge numbers of bacteria, known as the gut microbiota.

Example sentences

  1. Water that is not absorbed in the small intestine is mostly taken up in the large intestine.

  2. The appendix is attached to the cecum, the first part of the large intestine.

Common collocations

  • large bowel
  • sigmoid colon
  • transverse colon
  • gut bacteria
  • 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.
  • digestionThe process of breaking food down into small molecules that the body can absorb. It is partly mechanical (chewing, churning) and partly chemical, using enzymes.
  • 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.
  • abdomenThe part of the trunk between the chest and the pelvis. It contains the stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys and other organs, and is separated from the chest by the diaphragm.

More terms: Digestive and Urinary Systems

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