Spleen

Definition: Spleen

Spleen

Noun

1. A large dark-red oval organ on the left side of the body between the stomach and the diaphragm; produces cells involved in immune responses.

2. A feeling of resentful anger.

Date "spleen" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Note: Spleen \Spleen\, transitive verb. To dislke. [Obsolete]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definition
Dream Interpretation	To dream of spleen, denotes that you will have a misunderstanding with some party who will injure you. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....
Health	An organ that is part of the lymphatic system. The spleen produces lymphocytes, filters the blood, stores blood cells, and destroys old blood cells. It is located on the left side of the abdomen near the stomach. (references)
Literature	Spleen was once believed to be the seat of ill-humour and melancholy. The herb spleenwort was supposed to remove these splenic disorders. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Medicine	The largest endocrine gland. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The spleen is an organ of vertebrates derived from mesenchyme and lying in the mesentery. It is closely associated with the circulatory system. The organ consists of masses of tissue of granular appearance, known as lymphoid tissue, located around fine terminal branches of veins and arteries. These vessels are connected through the spleen pulp by modified capillaries called splenic sinuses. The pulp is supported by a reticular tissue foundation and contains blood cells of all kinds in addition to the characteristic mesenchymal cells. The functions of the organ are the formation of blood cells, the destruction of old red blood corpuscles, the removal of other debris from the blood stream, and keeping a reservoir of blood.

The human spleen is located in the upper left part of the abdomen, behind the stomach and just below the diaphragm. In a normal individual this organ measures about 125 × 75 × 50 mm (5 × 3 × 2 in) in size. In certain diseases it often increases in size, and it may even fill a large portion of the left side of the abdomen. The spleen enlarges in malaria, bacterial endocarditis, leukemia, pernicious anemia, Hodgkins' disease, Banti's disease, and tumors, cysts of the spleen and glandular fever (mononucleosis).

The spleen is classified as a ductless gland and is also regarded as one of the centers of activity of the reticuloendothelial system. Until recently, the purpose of the spleen was not known. Its presence is not necessary for life. It may be removed surgically, and often is following abdominal injuries with rupture and hemorrhage of the spleen, or in the treatment of certain blood diseases (hemorrhagic purpura, familial jaundice, etc.), or for the removal of splenic tumors or cysts. Congenital abnormalities such as accessory spleens occur, and rarely the spleen has been found to be completely absent. Sickle-cell disease can cause a functional asplenia by causing infarctions in the spleen during repeated sickle-cell crises.

In certain animals such as dogs and horses, the spleen sequesters a large number of erythrocytes (red blood cells), which can be dumped into the blood stream during periods of physical exertion. These animals also have large hearts in relation to their body size to accommodate the higher-viscosity blood that results. Some athletes have tried doping themselves with their own stored red cells to try to achieve the same effect, but the human heart is not equipped to handle the higher-viscosity blood.

Origin

The word spleen comes from the Greek splēn. In French, spleen refers to a state of pensive sadness or melancholy. It has been popularized by Baudelaire (XIX century) but was already used before, in particular in the Romantic literature (XVIII century). The connection between spleen (the organ) and melancholy (the temperament) comes from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks. One of the humours (body fluid) was the black bile, secreted by the spleen organ and associated with melancholy.

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
SPAT	English	Spleen Antigen Test	N/A
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Spleen

Synonyms: irascibility (n), lien (n), quick temper (n), short temper (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Dejection	Melancholy; sadness; Adjective: il penseroso, melancholia, dismals, blues, lachrymals, mumps, dumps, blue devils, doldrums; vapors, megrims, spleen, horrors, hypochondriasis, pessimism; la maladie sans maladie; despondency, slough of Despond; disconsolateness; Adjective: hope deferred, blank despondency; voiceless woe.
Hate	Umbrage, pique, grudge; dudgeon, spleen bitterness, bitterness of feeling; ill blood, bad blood; acrimony; malice; implacability; (revenge).
	Owe a grudge; bear spleen, bear a grudge, bear malice; (malevolence); conceive an aversion to, take a dislike to.
Malevolence	Verb: be malevolent; Adjective: bear spleen, harbor spleen, bear a grudge, harbor a grudge, bear malice; betray the cloven foot, show the cloven foot.
Resentment	Pique, umbrage, huff, miff, soreness, dudgeon, acerbity, virulence, bitterness, acrimony, asperity, spleen, gall; heart-burning, heart-swelling; rankling.
	Chafe, mantle, fume, kindle, fly out, take fire; boil, boil over; boil with indignation, boil with rage; rage, storm, foam, vent one's rage, vent one's spleen; lose one's temper, stand on one's hind legs, stamp the foot, stamp with rage, quiver with rage, swell with rage, foam with rage; burst with anger; raise Cain.
Sullenness	Noun: sullenness; Adjective: morosity, spleen; churlishness; (discourtesy); irascibility.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Lyrics	Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen (Draft Dodger Rag; performing artist: Phil Ochs)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Baudelaire and Le Spleen De Paris (reference) Medical Imaging of the Spleen (reference) Paris Spleen (reference) Spleen (reference) Spleen de Paris (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Spleen and Ideal (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies confirm that this patient's cutaneous t-cell lymph cancer involves the lymph nodes and skin. The antibodies collect in the cancerous lymph nodes of the armpits, neck and groin and a strong outline of the patient's body verifies skin involvement. The liver and spleen are darkened, too, because it is normal for these organs to collect the antibodies. See artwork: GA-17. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.		The drawing shown indicates the key organs of the immune system - thymus, lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer).
	This is a scanning electron microscope image from normal circulating human blood. One can see red blood cells, several white blood cells including lymphocytes, a monocyte, a neutrophil, and many small disc-shaped platelets. Red cells are nonnucleated, and contain hemoglobin, containing iron an important protein which allows the cell to carry oxygen to other parts of the body. They also carry away carbon dioxide from the lungs. The infection-fighting white blood cells, are classified in 2 main groups: granular and agranular. Granulocytes are formed in bone marrow, agranulocytes are produced by lymph nodes and spleen. There are two types of agranulocytes: lymphocytes, fight disease by producing antibodies and thus destroying foreign material, and monocytes. Platelets are tiny cells formed in bone marrow and are necessary for blood clotting. Credit: Bruce Wetzel (photographer). Harry Schaefer (phot.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	Emma shall be an angel, and I will keep my spleen to myself till Christmas brings John and Isabella.
King Richard III	Shakespeare, William	O, preposterous And frantic outrage, end thy damned spleen, Or let me die, to look on death no more!
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	The imperfections of his mind run parallel with those of his body, being a composition of spleen, dullness, ignorance, caprice, sensuality and pride.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Lung, kidney, and spleen tissues are preferred. (references)
		Virtually all people with ALPS have an oversized spleen. (references)
		Two major components are the spleen and white blood cells. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	IN':ARDS:, n. The stomach, heart, soul and other bowels. Many eminent investigators do not class the soul as an in'ard, but that acute observer and renowned authority, Dr. Gunsaulus, is persuaded that the mysterious organ known as the spleen is nothing less than our important part. To the contrary, Professor Garrett P. Servis holds that man's soul is that prolongation of his spinal marrow which forms the pith of his no tail; and for demonstration of his faith points confidently to the fact that no tailed animals have no souls. Concerning these two theories, it is best to suspend judgment by believing both.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Spleen" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Spleen" is used about 150 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	150	25,701

Expressions using "spleen": dropped spleen ♦ golden spleen ♦ Malpighian corpuscles of the spleen ♦ sago spleen ♦ Spleen Focus-Forming Viruses ♦ spleen necrosis virus ♦ vent one's spleen on ♦ vent one's spleen on smb.. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "spleen": spleen-rock, spleen-venting.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "spleen"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		shpretkë, mërzi (aridity, blackness, boredom, depression, drag, dumps, ennui, flatness, gloom, mood, tedium, weariness). (various references)

Arabic		‏فرغ غضبه في, ‏كأبة, ‏كآبة (bleakness, damp, dejection, depression, desolation, despondency, dreariness, gauntness, gloom, gloominess, grief, low spirits, melancholy, moodiness, mope, sadness, sombreness, sorrow), ‏غضب (aggravate, anger, annoy, be angry, be irritated, chafe, crab, dander, displease, embitter, enrage, exasperate, exasperation, fire, flounce, fret, fume, gall, get on his nerves, get smb.'s goat, go mad, grumpiness, harrow, heat, incense, indignation, inflame, infuriate, irascibility, ire, irritate, irritation, itch, jitter, lose one's shirt, mad, madden, miff, nettle, offend, outcry, outrage, peeve, pet, pique, pout, provoke, rage, resentment, rile, rough, ruffle, seethe, soreness, sour, spite, twit, vex), ‏تشفى (slake), ‏سوداء, ‏سأم (boredom, weariness, weary), ‏النكد (bile, petulance), ‏الطحال. (various references)

Bulgarian		сплин, меланхолия (dismals, melancholia, melancholy), злоба (despite, devilry, grudge, malevolence, malice, malignancy, malignity, rancor, rancour, spite, venom, virulence), лошо настроение (doldrums, grouch, hump, ill humor, ill humour, mumps, pet, petulance), далак. (various references)

Chinese		脾脏 (milt, splenic), 脾 . (various references)

Czech		slezina (Milt), zlost (anger, chicane, grievance, huff, irritation, rage, wrath), zasmušilost, podráždìnost, nevrlost (glumness, grumpiness, petulance, sourness, sulk, surliness), nevlídnost (inclemency, unfriendliness). (various references)

Danish		spleen, milt, melankoli (dysthymia), livslede, lien, daarligt humoer. (various references)

Dutch		spleen (ill humor, ill humour), milt, lien, levensverveling, languor vitae. (various references)

Farsi		طحال(تش.), خشمناک کردن , جسارت (Audacity, Effrontery, Insolence, Presumption, Temerity, Venture), اسپرز. (various references)

Finnish		perna (milt). (various references)

French		spleen, rate. (various references)

German		Milz (milt, splenic), Spleen (crazy idea, eccentricity, ill humor, ill humour, obsession, quirk, strange habit), üble Laune. (various references)

Greek		σπλήνα. (various references)

Hebrew		מרירות (acerbity, acridity, acrimony, bitterness, embitterment), זעם (anger, fury, glower, rage, wrath), כעס (anger, be angry, glower, grumpiness, indignation, ire, wrath), �"כ�"וך (chagrin, dejection, depression, dismay, gloom, gloominess, low spirits, moodiness), טחול (lien). (various references)

Hungarian		lép (advance, honeycomb, step, to go into politics, to make place, to step). (various references)

Italian		milza (Milt). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		脾臟 , 脾�" . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ひぞう (cherish, prize, treasure, treasured). (various references)

Korean		비장. (various references)

Manx		shelg (chase, hunt, prey, prowl, pursuit, quarry, run, shoot, the field, venery), ahlea. (various references)

Pig Latin		eensplay

Portuguese		má disposição (fret, pip), hipocondria (atrabiliousness, hip, hypochondria, hypochondriasis, melancholia, misanthropy, valetudinarianism), depressão nervosa (pip), baço (brown, dim, dingy, dull, ill humor, ill humour, lacklustre, lustreless, swarthy, tarnished). (various references)

Romanian		splinã (Milt), proastã dispoziţie (huffiness, ill humor, ill humour, megrim, melancholy, moodiness, mumps), plictisealã (bore, boredom, botheration, ennui, flatness, heaviness, monotony, ponderosity, prolixity, tediousness, tedium, trouble, weariness), melancolie (blue devils, gloom, gloominess, hip, melancholia, melancholy, sadness). (various references)

Russian		селезенка, хандра (blue, mope, mopes, mulligrubs). (various references)

Scottish		trealais (the spleen), dubhliath (the spleen). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		slezina (milt), zlovolja (animosity, bad mood, ill humor, miff, peeve, peevishness). (various references)

Spanish		bazo. (various references)

Swedish		svårmod (melancholy, sadness), mjälte. (various references)

Thai		ความโกรธเคือง, ม้าม. (various references)

Turkish		karasevda (melancholia, vapors, vapours), kaçıklık, huysuzluk (acerbity, acrimony, bad temper, bile, biliousness, crankiness, crossness, cussedness, devilry, disagreeableness, distemper, fractiousness, grouch, grouchiness, huff, moodiness, pettishness, petulance, sourness, surliness, temper, vice, viciousness), hüzün (blues, doldrums, dole, dolefulness, dreariness, gloom, gloominess, melancholy, ruefulness, sadness, shadow, somberness, sombreness), hınç (grudge, rancor, rancour, resentment, revenge, revengefullness, vindication), dalak (splenetic, splenic). (various references)

Ukrainian		селезінка, сплін, злоба (animosity, devilry, evil). (various references)

Vietnamese		sự chán nản u bu�"n, sự bu�"n bực sự hằn học, sự bực tức (crossness), tỳ sự u uất. (various references)

Welsh		dueg (melancholy). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "spleen": spleenful, spleenier, spleeniest, spleens, spleenwort, spleenworts, spleeny. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Spleen" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ippleden, lsleten, pleen, saleen, Salween, Seleena, slyn, soleen, spean, spellen, spewen, spillen, splane, sple, splead, splean, splee, spleed, spleef, spleem, spleet, splemn, splen, splend, splene, splew, spllen, spuen. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "spleen" (pronounced splē"n)
3	-l ē" n	baleen, clean, colleen, glean, lean, lien, Moline, propylene, saline, trampoline, unclean.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-e-l-n-p-s"
	-1 letter: lenes, lense, neeps, peels, peens, peles, penes, sleep, speel.
	-2 letters: eels, else, lees, lens, neep, peel, peen, pees, pele, pens, seel, seen, seep, sene.
	-3 letters: eel, els, ens, lee, nee, pee, pen, pes, see, sel, sen.
	-4 letters: el, en, es, ne, pe.
	Words containing the letters "e-e-l-n-p-s"
	+1 letter: pencels, pensile, spelean, spleens, spleeny.
	+2 letters: deplanes, empanels, emplanes, enplanes, ensample, envelops, paleness, peelings, penalise, penlites, pilsener, plenches, plenties, polyenes, repanels, seaplane, sepaline, sleeping, spalpeen, speeling, spelaean, spinelle.
	+3 letters: ampleness, anopheles, antelopes, antisleep, beanpoles, centuples, elephants, encapsule, enclasped, endplates, ensamples, envelopes, espanoles, esplanade, lycopenes, opulences, panetelas, peduncles, pelerines, pemolines, penalised, penalises, penalizes, penalties, pencilers, penniless, penoncels, pensively, pentacles, penuchles, penuckles, perilunes, personnel, pestilent, petronels, phenetols, pilseners, pinwheels, pipelines, pleasance, plebeians, plenished, plenishes, plenteous, polygenes, precleans, presently, prunelles, replenish, replevins, replunges, seaplanes, sleepings, spalpeens, spanceled, spelunked, spelunker, spendable, spineless, spinelike, spinelles, spleenful, spleenier, splendent, splenetic, tapelines, unpeoples, unpleased, zeppelins.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
spleen	1,041	spleen symptom	10
enlarged spleen	173	spleen anatomy	10
function of the spleen	60	spleen where	9
ruptured spleen	50	cause enlarged spleen	9
spleen pain	39	enlarged liver spleen	8
spleen cancer	36	does spleen	8
spleen removal	32	dog spleen	8
spleen disease	28	located spleen where	7
enlarged spleen symptom	25	spleen surgery	7
spleen disorder	24	information spleen	6
location spleen	22	6 spleen	6
rupture spleen	15	health spleen	6
cyst spleen	15	spleen tumor	6
picture spleen	15	in pain spleen	5
spleen injury	15	size spleen	5
spleen swollen	14	baudelaire spleen	5
problem spleen	13	diagram spleen	5
human spleen	13	spleen infection	5
ruptured spleen symptom	11	meridian spleen	4
enlargement spleen	10	mono spleen	4
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Spleen

Definition: Spleen

Spleen

Noun

Specialty Definition: Spleen

Specialty Definition: Spleen

Abbreviations & Acronyms: Spleen

Synonyms: Spleen

Synonyms within Context: Spleen

Dejection

Hate

Malevolence

Resentment

Sullenness

Crosswords: Spleen

Modern Usage: Spleen

Lyrics

Commercial Usage: Spleen

Books

Music

Photo Album: Spleen

Use in Literature: Spleen

Emma

Austen, Jane

King Richard III

Shakespeare, William

Gulliver's Travels

Swift, Jonathan

Non-Fiction Usage: Spleen

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

Usage Frequency: Spleen

Expressions: Spleen

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Spleen

Modern Translation: Spleen

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Scottish

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Thai

Turkish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Welsh

Derivations & Misspellings: Spleen

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Spleen"

Anagrams: Spleen

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

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