Organ

How to spell organ

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce organ

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does organ mean?

1. nounA large keyboard instrument that produces sound by forcing air through pipes, or an electronic version of it.
2. nounA distinct part of the body with a specific function, such as the heart, liver, or kidney.
3. nounA newspaper or other publication that serves as the voice of a particular group or organisation.

Organ in a sentence

• The church organ filled the nave with sound during the service.

• The liver is the largest internal organ in the human body.

• The magazine was the official organ of the trade union for decades.

• She trained for years before she could play the cathedral organ.

• He registered as a donor so that each healthy organ could help someone else.

• That newsletter became the party's main organ for spreading policy.

Where does organ come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek organon, which literally meant 'a tool' or 'an instrument', anything you work with, from the verb ergon meaning 'work'. Latin took it up as organum, applying it both to musical instruments and to working parts of the body. The sense narrowed in late Latin and Old English to the great pipe instrument used in churches, and Old English actually borrowed the word early as organe. The modern spelling and broader meanings were reinforced through Old French organe in the medieval period, covering bodily organs and, later still, the figurative idea of an 'organ' as a means of communication such as a newspaper. The same ergon root for 'work' survives in everyday relatives like 'energy' and 'ergonomic', a helpful reminder that an organ is fundamentally a thing that does work.

How the word is built

• organ (from Greek organon: tool, instrument); a single unanalysable root in modern English