duct

Pronunciation: /dʌkt/

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance
  2. noun a continuous tube formed by a row of elongated cells lacking intervening end walls
  3. noun an enclosed conduit for a fluid

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ductus (“leading, conducting”, noun), from dūcō (“to lead, conduct, draw”) + -tus (action noun suffix). Doublet of ductus and douit. Also via Medieval Latin ductus (“a conveyance of water; a channel”), which itself has the first mentioned etymology.

In classic literature

Synonyms

epithelial duct, canal, channel

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
passage
Narrower (hyponyms)
alimentary canal, vas deferens, umbilical cord, ejaculatory duct, salivary duct, common bile duct

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