pituita

English

Etymology

From Latin pītuīta (“mucus, phlegm”). Doublet of pip.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɪˈtjuːɪtə/

Noun

pituita (uncountable)

1. (medicine, now only historical) Phlegm; mucus.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , Book I (New York 2001 edition), p.148:

     Pituita, or phlegm, is a cold and moist humour, begotten of the colder part of the chylus […]