Lung

Definition: Lung

Lung

Noun

1. Either of two saclike respiratory organs in the chest of vertebrates; serves to remove carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to the blood.

Date "lung" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references)

Etymology: Lung \Lung\, noun. [from Old English expression lunge, Anglo-Saxon lunge, plural lungen; akin to Dutch long, German lunge, Icelandic Swedish lunga, Danish lunge, all probably from the root of English light. See Light not heavy.]. (references)

Specialty Definition: Lung

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. Its function is to exchange oxygen from air with carbon dioxide from blood. The process in which this happens is called "external respiration" or breathing. Medical terms related to the lung often start in pulmo- from the Latin word pulmones for lungs.

Mammalian lungs
The lungs of mammals have a spongy texture and are honeycombed with epithelium having a much larger surface area in total than the outer surface area of the lung itself. The lungs of humans are typical of this type of lung.
The lungs are located inside the thoracic cavity, protected by the bony structure of the rib cage and enclosed by a double-walled sac called pleura. The inner layer of the sac adheres tightly to the outside of the lungs and the outer layer is attached to the wall of the chest cavity. The two layers are separated by a thin space called the pleural cavity that is filled with pleural fluid; this allows the inner and outer layers to slide over each other, and prevents them from being separated easily.
Breathing is largely driven by the diaphragm below, a muscle that by contracting expands the cavity in which the lung is enclosed. The rib cage itself is also able to expand and contract to some degree.
As a result, air is sucked into and pushed out of the lungs through the trachea and the bronchial tubes or bronchi; these branch out and end in alveoli which are tiny sacs surrounded by capillaries filled with blood. Here oxygen from the air diffuses into the blood, where it is carried by hemoglobin.
The deoxygenated blood from the heart reaches the lungs via the pulmonary artery and, after having been oxygenated, returns via the pulmonary veins.

Human lungs

Frontal view of lungs cut open
Trachea branches into bronchi

Humans have two lungs, with the left being divided into 2 lobes and the right into 3 lobes. These contain approximately 1500 miles of airways and 300 million alveoli, having a total surface area of about 140m² in adults (roughly the same area as a tennis court).
The total lung capacity depends on the person's age, weight, sex and the degree of physical activity - it ranges between ca. 4,000-6,000 cm³. For example, females tend to have a 20-25% lower capacity than males. Tall people tend to have a larger total lung capacity than shorter people. Heavy smokers have a drastically lower capacity than nonsmokers. Lung capacity is also affected by altitude. A person who is born and lives at sea level will have a smaller lung capacity than a person who spends their life at a high altitude. In addition to the total lung capacity, one also measures the tidal volume, the volume breathed in with an average breath, about 500 cm³. For a detailed discussion of the various lung volumes, see the article on lung volumes.
Typical adult resting breathing pattern has a breath rate of 10-20 breaths per minute with 1/3 of the breath time in inspiration.
The following is a list of important medical conditions involving the lung. Many of these are caused or worsened by smoking.
Lung cancer
Emphysema is an enlargement of the air spaces in the lung, making it hard to breathe.
Asthma is an immunological disease which causes the bronchioles to narrow by inflammation and spasm of the lining of the airway wall.
Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease which causes the lung to produce abnormally viscous mucus.
A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot obstructs an artery leading to the lung.
Tuberculosis is a transmittable bacterial infection of the lung, the most common infectous disease today.
Pneumonia is an infection of the lung, caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi.
Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi.
A collapsed lung (pneumothorax) can occur when one or both walls of the pleural cavity are penetrated by injury, allowing air to enter.
In a pulmonary edema fluid from the capillaries enters the alveoli. This can be caused by inhaling toxic gases, a weakness of the left side of the heart (resulting in a blood holdup in the lung), or altitude sickness.

It is now also possible to transplant lungss, even together with the heart.

Avian lungs
Birds have a significantly different structure to their lungs than mammals do. In addition to the lungs themselves, birds have posterior and anterior air sacs which are involved in controlling the air flow through the lungs. They have a flow through respiration system.
When a bird inhales air flows in through the trachea to the posterior air sac, and the air currently contained within the lungs flows into the anterior air sac. When the bird exhales, the fresh air now contained within the posterior air sac is driven into the lungs and the stale air now contained within the anterior air sacs is expelled through the trachea into the atmosphere. Two complete cycles of inhalation and exhalation are required for one "breath" of air to make its trip through the avian respiratory system. Avian lungs do not have alveoli like mammalian lungs do, instead consisting of millions of tiny tubes running the length of the lung.
The purpose of this complex system of air sacs is to ensure that the airflow through the avian lung is always travelling in the same direction - posterior to anterior. This is unlike the mammalian system, in which the direction of airflow in the lung reverses between inhalation and exhalation. By having the airflow moving in a single direction, avian lungs are able to employ a system of countercurrent exchange to extract oxygen much more efficiently from the air.

Amphibian lungs
The lungs of most frogs and other amphibians are simple balloon-like structures, with gas exchange limited to the outer surface area of the lung. This is not a very efficient arrangement, but amphibians have low metabolic demands and also frequently supplement their oxygen supply by diffusion across the moist outer skin of their bodies.

Evolutionary origins
The lungs of vertebrates are closely related (i.e. homologous) to the swim bladders of fish (but not to their gills). The evolutionary origin of both are thought to be outpocketings of the upper intestines. This is reflected by the fact that the lungs of a fetus also develop from an outpocketing of the upper intestines (see ontogeny and phylogeny). The article on swim bladders contains further details about the evolutionary origin of these two organs.

Arachnid lungs
Spiders have structures called "book lungs", which are not evolutionarily related to vertebrate lungs but serve a similar respiratory purpose.

See also

heart
circulatory system
organs
biology
liquid breathing

iron lung

External links

Dr D.R. Johnson: Introductory anatomy, respiratory system
Franlink Institute Online: The Respiratory System

Also, Lung (龍) is the generic Chinese name for a dragon. In Chinese mythology there were four types: the celetial dragon Tien-Lung, the treasure dragon Futs-Lung, earth dragon Ti-Lung and rain dragon Shen-Lung.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Lung."

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Airpipe	Artificial lung, iron lung, heart and lung machine.
Life	Respirator, artificial respirator, heart and lung machine, iron lung; medical devices .
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	I think I'm getting the Black Lung, Pop. It's not very well ventilated down there (Zoolander; writing credit: Drake Sather; Ben Stiller) You mess with me, and I'll kick a lung out of you. (Bad Day at Black Rock; writing credit: Howard Breslin; Don McGuire) It takes a real man to deal with lung cancer (Revelation; writing credit: Paul Lalonde; Peter Lalonde) Oh, Cindy he shot me in the lung. (Scary Movie; writing credit: Shawn Wayans; Marlon Wayans)
Clever	Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms (references; author: unknown)
Movie/TV Titles	Keung lung nyn kau (1973) Ngo foo kwong lung (1972) Lung chang shih jih (1969) Young Swordsman Lung Kin Fei (1964) Saai sau kwong lung (2002)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
References	The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Small Cell Lung Cancer (reference) Lung Kee (Bermuda) Holdings Limited: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) Tong Lung Metal Industry: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) Wing Lung Bank Limited: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	The lung goodbye : a manual of tactics for counteracting the tobacco industry in the 1980s (reference) High-Resolution Ct of the Lung (reference) Psychosocial Aspects of Cystic Fibrosis: A Model for Chronic Lung Disease. (reference) Lung Macrophages and Dendritic Cells in Health and Disease (reference) 10 Years of Research on Porcine Derived Lung Surfactant: Proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on Surfactant Replacement Versailles, France (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Alberta Lung Association Membership (reference) Clinical Lung Cancer (reference) Alliance For Lung Cancer Membership (reference) Lung Cancer (reference) Heart & Lung (reference) (more periodical examples)

Music	Lung Fu Mo She (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
	Mice were injected with mouse sarcoma cells amd treated 3 days later when many micro-metastatic tumor foci were evident in the lungs. Lungs on the left were treated with saline. The lungs on the right were treated with lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells plus recombinant interleukin-2. Greater than 250 sarcoma metastases are seen in the lungs of saline treated mice. This number is significantly reduced to less than 12 in mice receiving LAK cells plus recombinant interleukin-2. Normal mouse lung is 1 inch long. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.		This is an x-ray image of a chest. Both sides of the lungs are visible with a growth on the left side of the lung, which could possibly be lung cancer. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.
	Collection of aids used by polio victims, including the iron lung. Credit: CDC.		Photomicrograph of Bacillus anthracis in lung tissue in a case of fatal inhalation anthrax; B&B stain, Mag. 500x. Credit: CDC.
	Chest radiograph showing miliary densities in both lung fields plus thin-walled cavity with fluid level. Histoplasmosis. Credit: CDC.		Needle aspiration biopsy of lung showing yeasts of Histoplasma capsulatum. Methenamine silver stain. Credit: CDC.
	Smear of Pneumocystis carinii, concentrated from human lung. Giemsa stain. Credit: CDC.		Pulmonary pneumocystosis, caused by the bacterium Pneumocystis carinii, is a lung infection often found afflicting humans who are immunocompromised due to AIDS, or the use of chemotherapy. Credit: CDC.
	Pneumoconiosis, or Black Lung Disease, is a job related disease caused by continued exposure to excessive amounts of coal mine dust. This dust becomes imbedded in the lungs, causing them to harden, making breathing very difficult. Credit: CDC.		The iron lung encased the thoracic cavity externally in an air-tight chamber. The chamber was used to create a negative pressure around the thoracic cavity, thereby causing air to rush into the lungs to equalize intrapulmonary pressure. Credit: CDC.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Play	Caption
	Respirator; assisted breathing; oxygen; lung; lungs; breath; breathing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
J. M. Synge	Lord, confound this surly sister, blight her brow with blotch and blister, cramp her larynx, lung and liver, in her guts a galling give her.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	His wife died there of a lung complaint with which she had been long threatened
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Inflamatory phases in lung sarcoidosis. (references)
		The degree of lung disease also varies. (references)
		Permanent lung damage with chronic disease. (references)
Business		Following cardiovascular diseases, breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in the country and lung cancer registers in third place. (references)
		Over the years, one out of every ten women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 39 persons in 1000 will develop lung cancer (with more women now smoking, the 4/1 male/female ratio is beginning to decrease). (references)
		Lung cancer was recorded as the principal cause of cancer related deaths in men living in Buenos Aires and in 21 of the 23 Argentine provinces, whereas breast cancer was the main disease for women in the federal capital and in 18 provinces. (references)
Economic History	Russia	These products include certain types of laser equipment, scanning probe microscopes, devices used for magnetotherapy in dentistry, knee joint implants, artificial heart, lung and kidney devices, three-channel microprocessing electrocardiographs, and endoscopes. (references)
Human Rights	Cuba	At the time, he was spitting blood because of a nodule on his lung. (references)
	Cuba	She noted that conditions inside the prison, such as high humidity and long hours of confinement in a cell with only 1 hour outside daily, were responsible for his continued lung problems. (references)
Travel	Ecuador	In particular, travelers with heart or lung problems and persons with sickle cell trait may develop serious health complications at high altitudes. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	RELIQUARY, n. A receptacle for such sacred objects as pieces of the true cross, short-ribs of the saints, the ears of Balaam's ass, the lung of the cock that called Peter to repentance and so forth. Reliquaries are commonly of metal, and provided with a lock to prevent the contents from coming out and performing miracles at unseasonable times. A feather from the wing of the Angel of the Annunciation once escaped during a sermon in Saint Peter's and so tickled the noses of the congregation that they woke and sneezed with great vehemence three times each. It is related in the "Gesta Sanctorum" that a sacristan in the Canterbury cathedral surprised the head of Saint Dennis in the library. Reprimanded by its stern custodian, it explained that it was seeking a body of doctrine. This unseemly levity so raged the diocesan that the offender was publicly anathematized, thrown into the Stour and replaced by another head of Saint Dennis, brought from Rome.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Dennis Miller	What lifts my ass off the can is when people who have smoked for fifty years are amazed when they get lung cancer.
Rush Limbaugh	The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that, "The American Lung Association is criticizing states for using tobacco settlement money to cover budget deficits instead of anti-smoking programs."
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	99.25%	925	7,791
Noun (proper)	0.75%	7	133,076
Total	100.00%	932	N/A

Country	Name	Country	Name
Hong Kong	Hang Lung Development Co Limited	Taiwan	Tong Lung Metal Industry
	(more examples...)

Expressions using "lung": artificial lung ♦ bird breeder's lung ♦ Bird Fancier's Lung ♦ black lung ♦ black lung disease ♦ book lung ♦ brown lung ♦ budgerigar fancier's lung ♦ Chronic obstructive lung disease ♦ coal miner's lung ♦ collier's lung ♦ dynamic lung volume ♦ extensive-stage small cell lung cancer ♦ Extravascular Lung Water ♦ Farmer's Lung ♦ fish meal lung ♦ fishmeal worker's lung ♦ green lung ♦ heart and lung machine ♦ honeycomb lung ♦ iron dust lung ♦ iron lung ♦ iron oxide lung ♦ isolated lung perfusion ♦ Labrador lung ♦ limited-stage small cell lung cancer ♦ lobe of the lung ♦ Lung Abscess ♦ lung cancer ♦ Lung Compliance ♦ lung disease ♦ lung dose ♦ lung edema ♦ Lung fever ♦ lung fibrosis ♦ Lung flower ♦ lung governed demand valve ♦ Lung lichen ♦ lung metastases ♦ Lung Neoplasms ♦ lung rot ♦ Lung sac ♦ lung specialist ♦ Lung Ta ♦ Lung Transplantation ♦ Lung volume ♦ Lung Volume Measurements ♦ miners'black lung ♦ mushroom grower's lung ♦ mushroom picker's lung ♦ mushroom worker's lung ♦ non-small cell lung cancer ♦ ocher lung ♦ pigeon breeder's lung ♦ pigeon fancier's lung ♦ sandblast lung ♦ sandblaster's lung ♦ silo filler's lung ♦ small cell lung cancer ♦ stage I non-small cell lung cancer ♦ stage II non-small cell lung cancer ♦ stage III non-small cell lung cancer ♦ stage IV non-small cell lung cancer ♦ the diffusing capacity of the lung ♦ thresher's lung ♦ tonoko lung ♦ Total Lung Capacity ♦ wet lung ♦ white lung ♦ wood worker's lung ♦ woodworker's lung. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "lung": lung-and-a-half-full, lung-bladder, lung-bursting, lung-cage, lung-cancer, lung-carrying, lung-crushing, lung-damaging, lung-full, Lung-grown, lung-imaging, lung-opener, lung-power, lung-puncturing, lung-sac, lung-tester, lung-tissue.
	Ending with "lung": Aqua-Lung, Heart-Lung, multi-lung, proto-lung.
	Containing "lung": heart-lung machine, Heart-Lung Transplantation.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "lung"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaans		long. (various references)

Albanian		mushkëri (lungs). (various references)

Arabic		‏الرئة, ‏رئة. (various references)

Basque		birika. (various references)

Bulgarian		бял дроб (lights), дихателен уред. (various references)

Catalan		pulmó. (various references)

Chinese		肺 . (various references)

Czech		plíce (lungs). (various references)

Danish		lunge (lights). (various references)

Dutch		long (lights). (various references)

Esperanto		pulmo. (various references)

Faeroese		lunga. (various references)

Farsi		جگرسفید, ریه , شش (Six). (various references)

Finnish		keuhko. (various references)

French		poumon. (various references)

German		Lunge (bellows, lungs, lungs [pl]). (various references)

Greek		πνεύμωνας, πνεύμων, πνεύμονασ, πνεύμονας, πνευμόνια (lights), πνευμόνι, πλεμόνια (lights). (various references)

Hebrew		רא�". (various references)

Hungarian		tüdõ (lungs, pulmonary), tüdő (lungs, pneumonic), tüdô. (various references)

Indonesian		paru-paru. (various references)

Derivations
	Words beginning with "lung": lungan, lungans, lunge, lunged, lungee, lungees, lunger, lungers, lunges, lungfish, lungfishes, lungful, lungfuls, lungi, lunging, lungis, lungs, lungworm, lungworms, lungwort, lungworts, lungyi, lungyis. (additional references)
	Words ending with "lung": bremsstrahlung, clung, flung, slung, underslung, unslung, upflung. (additional references)
	Words containing "lung": blunge, blunged, blunger, blungers, blunges, blunging, bremsstrahlungs, muskellunge, muskellunges, plunge, plunged, plunger, plungers, plunges, plunging, replunge, replunged, replunges, replunging, slungshot, slungshots. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Lung" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ilunga, langy, laung, leng, leung, lingy, linng, linug, Ljungh, Llong, llusg, lnb, lng, longi, longo, longqt, longt, longy, lonng, loung, loungy, Luang, Luangwa, lugg, Lugny, lun, Lunb, lunc, Lunga, Lunghi, lungi, lungo, luni, luno, luns, luny, luog, Lurg, Lurgi, lurgy, lurn, nung, plung, Ulug, ung. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Name	Usage/Gender	Usage per 100 million Persons	Rank in USA
Lung	Last name	1,000	11,026
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
lung cancer	3,549	iron lung	82
lung	1,112	smoker lung picture	81
american lung association	785	national heart lung and blood institute	77
lung disease	700	black lung	74
lung cancer symptom	496	lung association	69
lung cancer picture	279	lung anatomy	68
lung cancer treatment	268	lung problem	68
small cell lung cancer	173	lung nodule	68
lung picture	163	lung tumor	65
lung transplant	128	smoking and lung cancer	61
collapsed lung	127	lung cancer photo	61
lung infection	119	lung spot	58
information on lung cancer	106	adenocarcinoma lung	55
smoker lung	101	aqua lung	54
non small cell lung cancer	98	lung pain	53
fluid in lung	89	lung biopsy	53
interstitial lung disease	88	smoking and lung	51
fluid on the lung	86	american lung	50
lung sound	84	lung disorder	49
lung nodules	82	lung cancer stage	47
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	pulmo. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "lung" (pronounced lu"ng)
3	l u" ng	clung, flung, slung.
2	-u" ng	among, bung, dung, hung, pung, rung, sprung, strung, stung, sung, swung, tongue, Tung, unsung, wrung, young.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "g-l-n-u"
	-1 letter: gnu, gul, gun, lug.
	-2 letters: nu, un.
	Words containing the letters "g-l-n-u"
	+1 letter: clung, flung, gluon, lunge, lungi, lungs, slung.
	+2 letters: bluing, blunge, bungle, cluing, englut, engulf, fungal, glucan, gluing, glunch, gluons, gluten, gulden, gunnel, gunsel, hangul, ingulf, jungle, jungly, laguna, lagune, langue, langur, lanugo, lingua, lounge, loungy, lubing, luging, lungan, lunged, lungee, lunger, lunges, lungis, lungyi, luring, luting, muling, nilgau, plunge, puling, pungle, ruling, sluing, snugly, unclog, unglue, ungual, ungula, unplug.
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.

Lung

Definition: Lung

Lung

Noun

Specialty Definition: Lung

External links

Synonyms within Context: Lung

Airpipe

Life

Crosswords: Lung

Modern Usage: Lung

Screenplays

Clever

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Lung

References

Books

Periodicals

Music

Image Slideshow: Lung

Illustrations:Lung

Computer Images:Lung

Photo Album: Lung

Sounds Captioned with "Lung".

Familiar Quotations: Lung

J. M. Synge

Use in Literature: Lung

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Non-Fiction Usage: Lung

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

Spoken Usage: Lung

Dennis Miller

Rush Limbaugh

Usage Frequency: Lung

Name Usage Frequency: Lung

Usage in Company Names: Lung

Hang Lung Development Co Limited

Tong Lung Metal Industry

Expressions: Lung

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Lung

Modern Translation: Lung

Afrikaans

Albanian

Arabic

Basque

Bulgarian

Catalan

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Faeroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Inuktitut

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Maya

Norwegian

Occitan

Papiamen

Pig Latin

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Romansch

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Illustrations:
Lung

Computer Images:
Lung