organ

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See also: Organ, orgán, and òrgan

English

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The console of a pipe organ (musical instrument).

Etymology

From Middle English organe, from Old French organe, from Latin organum, from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon, an instrument, implement, tool, also an organ of sense or apprehension, an organ of the body, also a musical instrument, an organ), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-. Doublet of organon, organum, and orgue.

Pronunciation

Noun

organ (plural organs)

  1. The larger part of an organism, composed of tissues that perform similar functions.
    bodily organs
    vital organ
    • 2018, Sandeep Jauhar, Heart: a History, →ISBN, page 98:
      No matter the extraordinary progress that has been made in heart surgery over the past century, the heart remains a vulnerable organ.
  2. (by extension) A body of an organization dedicated to the performing of certain functions.
  3. (obsolete) A device, apparatus.
    • 1656, Thomas Hobbes, Elements of Philosophy:
      This Organ is called a Thermometer, or Thermoscope, because the degrees of Heat and Cold are measured and marked by it.
  4. (music) A musical instrument that has multiple pipes which play when a key is pressed (the pipe organ), or an electronic instrument designed to replicate such.
    • 1918, W B Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, [] , the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
  5. An official magazine, newsletter, or similar publication of an organization.
  6. Short for organ pipe cactus.
  7. A government organization; agency; authority.
  8. (slang) The penis.
    • 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., page 81:
      If the Snake has an unmistakeable resemblance to the male organ in its active state, the foliage of the tree or bush is equally remindful of the female.
  9. (historical, military) An Asian form of mitrailleuse.
    • 1790, H. Compton, A particular account of the European military adventurers of Hindustan, from 1784 to 1803, page 61:
      Lieutenant Roberts was also severely wounded by a missile, or weapon called an Organ, which is composed of about thirty-six gun barrels so joined as to fire at once.

Hyponyms

See also Thesaurus:organ.
of the biological sense
of the sense “a musical instrument”
of the sense “a medium of communication”

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Korean: 오르간 (oreugan)
  • Maori: ōkana
  • Vietnamese: oóc-gan

Translations

Further reading

Verb

organ (third-person singular simple present organs, present participle organing, simple past and past participle organed)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To supply with an organ or organs; to fit with organs.
    • 1681, Thomas Manningham, Two Discourses:
      Thou art elemented and organ'd for other apprehensions.

Anagrams

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch orgaan, from Middle Dutch organe, from Latin organum, from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key):
  • Hyphenation: or‧gan

Noun

organ

  1. organ:
    1. (biology) a larger part of an organism, composed of tissues that perform similar functions.
    2. (music) a musical instrument that has multiple pipes which play when a key is pressed (the pipe organ), or an electronic instrument designed to replicate such.
    3. an official magazine, newsletter, or similar publication of an organization.
  2. mouthpiece, a spokesperson or medium aligned with an organisation.

Further reading

Malay

Noun

organ (Jawi spelling اورݢن, plural organ-organ, informal 1st possessive organku, 2nd possessive organmu, 3rd possessive organnya)

  1. organ:
    1. (biology) a larger part of an organism, composed of tissues that perform similar functions.
    2. (music) a musical instrument that has multiple pipes which play when a key is pressed (the pipe organ), or an electronic instrument designed to replicate such.
    3. an official magazine, newsletter, or similar publication of an organization.

Further reading

Middle English

Noun

organ

  1. Alternative form of organe

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

From Latin organum, a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon).

Noun

organ n (definite singular organet, indefinite plural organ or organer, definite plural organa or organene)

  1. (anatomy, biology) an organ
  2. an organ (publication which represents an organisation)
  3. a body (e.g. an advisory body)

Derived terms

See also

  • orgel (musical instrument)

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon), via Latin organum.

Noun

organ n (definite singular organet, indefinite plural organ, definite plural organa)

  1. (anatomy, biology) an organ
  2. an organ (publication which represents an organisation)
  3. a body (e.g. an advisory body)

Derived terms

See also

  • orgel (musical instrument)

References

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
organy

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin organum.

Pronunciation

Noun

organ m inan (related adjective organowy)

  1. organ (larger part of an organism, composed of tissues that perform similar functions)
    Synonym: narząd
  2. (government) organ (body of an organization dedicated to the performing of certain functions)
  3. (politics) organ (official magazine, newsletter, or similar publication of an organization)
  4. (in the plural) organ, pipe organ (largest of all musical instruments, played from an organ console which produces its sound by sending air through whistles and/or reeds called organ pipes, by direct mechanical action)
  5. (in the plural) organ, pipe organ (electronic instrument designed to replicate the pipe organ)

Declension

nouns

Further reading

  • organ in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • organy in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • organ in Polish dictionaries at PWN
  • organ in PWN's encyclopedia

Romanian

Etymology

From Byzantine Greek ὄργανος (órganos), from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon), partly through the intermediate of Slavic *orъganъ. Some senses also based on French orgue (cf. orgă), Latin organum, Italian organo.

Noun

organ n (plural organe)

  1. organ (part of organism)
  2. (archaic) organ (musical instrument)
    Synonym: orgă

Declension

singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative organ organul organe organele
genitive-dative organ organului organe organelor
vocative organule organelor

See also

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ǒrɡaːn/
  • Hyphenation: or‧gan

Noun

òrgān m (Cyrillic spelling о̀рга̄н)

  1. organ (part of an organism)

Declension

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Pronunciation

Noun

organ n

  1. (anatomy) an organ (a part of the body)
  2. (euphemistic) a penis
  3. a (state) body that performs societal functions
  4. (dated) a voice (of a singer or actor)
    Hon förenade med ett utmärkt teateryttre en hög grad af intelligens, en ypperlig organ och en förträfflig deklamationskonst
    She combined with excellent theatrical looks a high degree of intelligence, an extraordinary voice and a splendid mastery of declamation
  5. an organ; a newspaper (of an organization, i.e. its voice)

Declension

See also

References

Anagrams

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Noun

(classifier đàn) organ

  1. (Vietnam) keyboard (device with keys of a musical keyboard)

Synonyms

See also