digestion

See also: digestión

English

Etymology

From Old French digestion. Partly displaced native Old English melting (“melting, digestion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daɪˈd͡ʒɛst͡ʃən/, /dɪˈd͡ʒɛst͡ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛstʃən

Noun

digestion (countable and uncountable, plural digestions)

1. The process, in the gastrointestinal tract, by which food is converted into substances that can be used by the body.
   • 1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization‎^[1], Edinburgh, London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 2:

     In the dead state all is apparently without motion. No agent within indicates design, intelligence, or foresight: there is no respiration; no digestion, circulation, or nutrition; […]

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 159:

     As for Grierson, he poured liquor into himself as if it were so much soothing syrup, demonstrating that a good digestion is the highest form of good conscience.

   • 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

     Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

2. The result of this process.
3. The ability to use this process.
4. The processing of decay in organic matter assisted by microorganisms.
5. The assimilation and understanding of ideas.
6. (medicine, archaic) Generation of pus; suppuration.
7. (chemistry) Dissolution of a sample into a solution by means of adding acid and heat.

Derived terms

• mechanical digestion
• predigestion

Related terms

• digest
• digester
• digestible

Translations

process in gastrointestinal tract

• Afrikaans: spysvertering, vertering
• Albanian: tretje (sq) f
• Arabic: هَضْم m (haḍm)

  Egyptian Arabic: هضم m (haḍm)

• Armenian: մարսողություն (hy) (marsoġutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: həzm (az), mənimsəmə
• Belarusian: стравава́нне n (stravavánnje)
• Bengali: পরিপাক (bn) (poripak)
• Bulgarian: храносми́лане (bg) n (hranosmílane)
• Carpathian Rusyn: травлїня n (travljinja), діґесція f (digescija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 消化 (zh) (xiāohuà)

• Czech: trávení (cs) n
• Danish: fordøjelse (da) c
• Dutch: spijsvertering (nl) f, vertering (nl) f
• Esperanto: digesto
• Estonian: seedimine
• Faroese: sodning f
• Finnish: ruoansulatus (fi), ruuansulatus
• French: digestion (fr) f
• Galician: dixestión f
• Georgian: მონელება (moneleba)
• German: Verdauung (de) f
• Greek: πέψη (el) f (pépsi), χώνεψη (el) f (chónepsi)

  Ancient: πέψις f (pépsis)

• Hebrew: עיכול \ עִכּוּל m (ikúl)
• Hindi: पाचन (hi) m (pācan), हज़म m (hazam), हाज़मा m (hāzmā)
• Hungarian: emésztés (hu)
• Icelandic: melting (is) f
• Indonesian: pencernaan (id)
• Irish: díleá m
• Italian: digestione (it) f
• Japanese: 消化 (ja) (しょうか, shōka)
• Kazakh: асқорыту (asqorytu), қорыту (qorytu)
• Khmer: ការរំលាយអាហារ (kaa rumliəy ʼaahaa), ជីរណា (ciirĕəʼnaa)
• Korean: 소화(消化) (ko) (sohwa)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: heriskirin f, heris f, herisîn (ku), hezm (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тамак сиңирүү (tamak siŋirüü), сиңирүү (ky) (siŋirüü)
• Lao: ການຍ່ອຽອາຫານ (kān nyǭi ʼā hān)
• Latin: digestio f
• Latvian: gremošana f
• Lithuanian: virškinimas m
• Macedonian: варење n (varenje), дигестија f (digestija)
• Malay: pencernaan
• Malayalam: ദഹനം (ml) (dahanaṁ)
• Maori: whakangawheretanga
• Mirandese: digeston
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хоолны шингэц (xoolny šingec)

• Nahuatl: tlatemohuiliztli
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fordøyelse m

  Nynorsk: fordøying f, melting f, matmelting f

• Old English: melting f
• Pashto: هضم (ps) m (hazᶕm), هاضمه f (hāzemá), هضمېدنه f (hazmedǝ́na)
• Persian: هضم (fa) (hazm), گوارش (fa) (govâreš)
• Polish: trawienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: digestão (pt) f
• Romanian: digestie (ro) f
• Russian: пищеваре́ние (ru) n (piščevarénije), переварива́ние (ru) n (perevarivánije)
• Sanskrit: जीर्ण (sa) n (jīrṇa), पाचन (sa) n (pācana)
• Scottish Gaelic: meirbheadh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: варење n

  Roman: varenje (sh) n

• Slovak: trávenie n
• Slovene: prebava (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: póžywanje n

  Upper Sorbian: požiwanje n

• Spanish: digestión (es) f
• Swedish: matspjälkning (sv) c, matsmältning (sv) c
• Tajik: ҳазм (hazm)
• Telugu: జీర్ణము (te) (jīrṇamu)
• Thai: การย่อยอาหาร
• Turkish: sindirim (tr)
• Turkmen: siňdiriş
• Ukrainian: тра́влення n (trávlennja)
• Urdu: ہضم m (hazam), ہاضمہ m (hāzmā)
• Uzbek: hazm (uz)
• Vietnamese: hệ tiêu hóa, sự tiêu hóa (vi)
• Volapük: dicet (vo), dicetam
• Welsh: traul f
• West Frisian: spiisfertarring, fertarring

result of this process

• Galician: dixestión f
• Greek: πέψη (el) f (pépsi), χώνεψη (el) f (chónepsi)
• Italian: digestione (it) f
• Romanian: digestie (ro) f
• Scottish Gaelic: meirbheadh m
• Spanish: digestión (es) f

ability to use this process

• Bulgarian: храносмилане (bg) n (hranosmilane)
• Scottish Gaelic: meirbheadh m
• Spanish: digestión (es) f

processing of decay in organic matter assisted by microorganisms

• Dutch: vertering (nl) f, verteren (nl) n
• Finnish: hajottaminen (fi)
• Galician: descomposición (gl) f
• Greek: αποσύνθεση (el) f (aposýnthesi)
• Italian: decomposizione (it) f, digestione (it) f
• Spanish: descomposición (es) f, putrefacción (es) f

assimilation and understanding of ideas

• Dutch: verwerven (nl) n, verwerving (nl) f, assimilatie (nl) f
• Galician: asimilación (gl) f
• Georgian: ათვისება (atviseba)
• Greek: αφομοίωση (el) f (afomoíosi)
• Italian: assimilazione (it) f
• Spanish: digestión (es) f, asimilación (es) f
• Telugu: హరాయించుకొను (harāyiñcukonu)

Anagrams

• genistoid

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dīgestiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

Noun

digestion f (plural digestions)

1. digestion

Further reading

• “digestion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Alternative forms

• digestioun
• digestiun

Noun

digestion oblique singular, f (oblique plural digestions, nominative singular digestion, nominative plural digestions)

1. digestion

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /did͡ʒesˈtjuŋ/

Noun

digestion f

1. digestion