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gland

UK/ɡlænd/US/ɡlænd/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,842 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: glands

A gland is an organ that makes a substance the body needs. The thyroid gland, swollen glands, a sweat gland.

Swollen glands is the everyday phrase for lymph nodes, which are not really glands at all — they filter rather than secrete. True glands divide into those that release into the blood, like the thyroid, and those that release onto a surface, like the sweat glands.

Definitions of gland

  1. 1nounglandAn organ that makes a substance the body needs.B2+

    “Sweat glands in the skin help to keep the body cool.”

gland is an organ.

Where it comes from

French glande comes from Latin glandula, a little acorn, from glans, an acorn, for the shape.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *gʷelh₂-

  2. Latin

    glandulae — throat glands, tonsils

  3. Old French

    glandre

  4. French

    glande

  5. English, today

    gland

Built from

  • glandula · Latin — a little acorn

Late 17th century borrowing from French glande, alteration of Old French glandre, from Latin glandulae (“throat glands, tonsils”), plural of glandula (“a little acorn”), from glāns + -ula.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

gland in the wild

  • Each gland has an outer cortex which produces steroid hormones and an inner medulla.

    Adrenal gland

  • In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped or H-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple.

    Thyroid

  • Secretion of the two thyroid hormones is regulated by thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which is secreted from the anterior pituitary gland.

    Thyroid

  • There are two types of gland, each with a different method of secretion.

    Gland

  • Exocrine glands secrete their products through a duct into a body cavity or outer surface.

    Gland

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.