Liver

How to spell liver

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce liver

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does liver mean?

1. nounA large organ in the abdomen that filters blood, produces bile, and processes nutrients.

Liver in a sentence

• The doctor ordered a scan to check her liver function.

• Heavy drinking over many years had damaged his liver.

Where does liver come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The organ name comes from the Old English word 'lifer', a native Germanic term with close cousins across the family such as Dutch 'lever' and German 'Leber'. Its ancient root is thought to mean something like 'the fat one' or 'the rich one', a fitting description of an organ that early peoples regarded as the seat of life, blood, and even the emotions. For centuries the liver, not the heart, was considered the centre of passion and courage, which is why an old insult called a coward 'lily-livered'. A quite separate sense, meaning a person who lives in a particular way, is simply the ordinary verb 'live' plus the agent ending '-er', as in a 'clean liver'. The two words look identical but arrive from different directions, and the single short 'i' spelling, with no doubling, is the small trap that catches writers.

How the word is built

• liver (from Old English lifer: the organ); the agent noun also analyses as live
• -er (one who lives)