sphincter

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin sphinctēr (“the muscle of the anus”), from Ancient Greek σφῐγκτήρ (sphĭnktḗr, “lace, band; contractile muscle”), ultimately of Pre-Greek origin. Possibly related to sphinx (“the strangler”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsfɪŋk.tɚ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

sphincter (plural sphincters or sphincteres)

1. (anatomy) A ringlike band of muscle that surrounds a bodily opening (such as the anus or the openings of the stomach), constricting and relaxing as required for normal physiological functioning.

   Hyponyms: anal sphincter, lissosphincter, lower esophageal sphincter, pyloric sphincter, rhabdosphincter, sphincter of Oddi, upper esophageal sphincter, urethral sphincter

   the sphincter of the bladder

   the iris sphincter in the eye

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (The Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, page 836:

     She decided that she would force him to climax first by the sheer strength of her young animal control, the strength of her sphincters […]

   • 2017 August 9, Mark Carnall, “Why do cephalopods produce ink? And what's ink made of, anyway?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 January 2021:

     The ink sac feeds into the rectum, controlled by a sphincter and in some inking events mucus from another organ, the funnel organ is ejected with water and ink through the anus and the siphon to create a cloud of ink.

   • 2017 September, Drew Kann, “How a CIA traitor turned his son into a Russian spy”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 1 August 2022:

     Polygraph operators place their subjects on a pad that can sense the clenching of their sphincters, a device known by those who’ve sat on them as the “whoopee cushion.” Maguire took his seat, his sphincter already tight enough to crush walnuts.

   • 2019 February 1, AJ Willingham, “How to watch the Super Bowl and actually keep up”, in CNN‎^[3], archived from the original on 10 March 2020:

     Go ahead, use your eye sphincters and watch the roof opening and closing.

Derived terms

• sphincteral
• sphincteralgia
• sphincter boy
• sphincteric
• sphinctero-
• sphincterotome
• sphincterotomy

Related terms

• sphinx

Translations

Translations

• Afrikaans: sluitspier
• Arabic: عَاصِرَة f (ʕāṣira)
• Aragonese: esfíncter m
• Asturian: mollaxe m, esfínter (ast) m
• Basque: esfinter
• Belarusian: сфі́нктар m (sfínktar)
• Bulgarian: сфи́нктер m (sfínkter)
• Catalan: esfínter m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 括約肌 / 括约肌 (zh) (kuòyuējī)

• Czech: svěrač (cs) m
• Danish: lukkemuskel (da) c
• Dutch: sfincter (nl) m, sluitspier (nl) f, kringspier (nl) f
• Esperanto: sfinktero
• Estonian: sulgurlihas, ringlihas
• Faroese: ringvøddi m
• Finnish: sulkijalihas (fi)
• French: sphincter (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: slútspier

• Galician: esfínter (gl) m
• German: Schließmuskel (de) m, Sphinkter (de) m
• Greek: σφιγκτήρας (el) m (sfigktíras)

  Ancient Greek: σφιγκτήρ m (sphinktḗr)

• Hungarian: záróizom (hu)
• Icelandic: hringvöðvi m
• Ido: sfintero (io)
• Indonesian: sfingter (id)
• Italian: sfintere (it) m
• Japanese: 括約筋 (かつやくきん, katsuyakukin)
• Korean: 괄약근(括約筋) (ko) (gwaryakgeun)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: miçînik, guşer m

• Macedonian: сфинктер m (sfinkter)
• Māori: takini
• Persian: اسفنکتر (esfankter)
• Polish: zwieracz (pl) m
• Portuguese: esfíncter (pt) m
• Russian: сфи́нктер (ru) m (sfínktɛr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сфинктер m

  Latin: sfinkter (sh) m

• Slovak: zvierač m
• Slovene: zapiralka f
• Spanish: esfínter (es) m
• Swedish: ringmuskel (sv), sfinkter (sv) c, fisring c (slang)
• Thai: หูรูด
• Turkish: büzgen (tr)
• Ukrainian: сфі́нктер m (sfínkter)
• Vietnamese: cơ thắt
• Volapük: färmükamamuskul

See also

• cardia

References

• “sphincter”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “sphincter”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin sphinctēr (“the muscle of the anus”), from Ancient Greek σφῐγκτήρ (sphĭnktḗr, “lace, band; contractile muscle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sfɛ̃k.tɛʁ/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

sphincter m (plural sphincters)

1. (anatomy) sphincter

Further reading

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

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σφῐγκτήρ (sphĭnktḗr, “lace, band; contractile muscle”), from σφῐ́γγω (sphĭ́ngō, “to bind tight or fast”) +‎ -τήρ (-tḗr, “-er, -or”, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsfiŋk.ter]

Noun

sphinctēr m (genitive sphinctēris); third declension (Late Latin)

1. (anatomy) The sphincter, the muscle of the anus.

Inflection

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sphinctēr	sphinctērēs
genitive	sphinctēris	sphinctērum
dative	sphinctērī	sphinctēribus
accusative	sphinctērem	sphinctērēs
ablative	sphinctēre	sphinctēribus
vocative	sphinctēr	sphinctērēs

Descendants

• → English: sphincter
• → French: sphincter