- pituitary
[pituitary 词源字典]
- pituitary: see pine
[pituitary etymology, pituitary origin, 英语词源] - pituitary (adj.)
- 1610s, from Latin pituitarius "mucous," from pituita "clammy moisture, phlegm, mucus, slime," possibly from a suffixed form of PIE root *peie- "to be fat, swell" (see fat (adj.)). Taken as the name for the gland because it was believed that it channeled mucus to the nose. As a noun by 1899.