gastros

Gastros is a term rooted in the Greek word gaster, meaning stomach. In English, gastros is not a disease or anatomical entity of its own. Instead, it appears mainly as the plural form in etymological discussions or as the source of the combining form gastro- used to create words related to the stomach and digestion.

Origin and form: The Greek root gaster yields the combining form gastro-, which attaches to many medical and scientific terms. In some words, the stem appears as gastr- due to phonological adjustment, as in gastritis or gastr/o- in older medical notation. The prefix gastro- is widely used to indicate a relation to the stomach, while gastr- often appears within specific terms.

Usage and examples: Common terms built from this root include gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining), gastroscopy (endoscopic examination of the stomach), gastrectomy (surgical removal of the stomach), and gastroenterology (the medical specialty dealing with the stomach and intestines). The same root also appears in nonmedical terms such as gastronomy (the art of cooking and cuisine) and, in zoology, gastropod (a group whose name means “stomach-foot”).

Notes and distinctions: Gastros should be understood as a linguistic root rather than a separate medical category. English usage typically employs gastro- or gastr- as the productive forms for creating stomach-related terms, with the exact form chosen by phonology and convention in each word.

See also: gastro-, gastr-; gastritis; gastroscopy; gastrectomy; gastroenterology; gastronomy; gastropod.