| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| esophagus |
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| SYLLABICATION: | e·soph·a·gus |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -s f  -gs |
| VARIANT FORMS: | also oe·soph·a·gus |
| NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. e·soph·a·gi (-j  , -g)
The muscular membranous tube for the passage of food from the pharynx to the stomach; the gullet. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English isophagus, from Medieval Latin  sophagus, from Greek oisophagos, arbitrary medical coinage perhaps from ois-, future tense stem of pherein, to carry + -phagos, food (unattested sense) (from phagein, to eat; see bhag- in Appendix I). | | OTHER FORMS: | e·sopha·geal (-jl) —ADJECTIVE
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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