bronchus

noun

bron·​chus ˈbräŋ-kəs 

plural bronchi ˈbräŋ-ˌkī 

-ˌkē

: either of the two primary divisions of the trachea that lead respectively into the right and the left lung

broadly : bronchial tube

Examples of bronchus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer, alongside costs from colon and rectum cancer ($2.8 trillion), breast cancer ($2 trillion), liver cancer ($1.7 trillion) and leukemia ($1.6 trillion), accounts for half of the global economic costs of cancer, the researchers said. —Robert Hart, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023

For lung and bronchus cancer, the five-year survival rate was 19.4% with a 5.2% survival rate in cases where the cancer spread to distant parts of the body. —Ryan W. Miller, USA TODAY, 5 Feb. 2020

Lung cancer incidence, staging, surgical treatment, and lack of treatment data was measured between the years 2012-2016 and includes malignant lung and bronchus tumors, according to the report’s methodology section. —Ivana Hrynkiw | [e-mail], al, 13 Nov. 2019

First, the donor’s lungs are removed, a process that involves stapling shut the major vein and artery that take blood to and from the lungs, as well as closing off the bronchus, the main passage through which air passes. —Caitlin Dwyer, Longreads, 25 July 2019

These symptoms happen due to swelling that occurs around the larynx (the vocal cords), trachea (windpipe), and bronchi (bronchial tubes). —Korin Miller, SELF, 16 Oct. 2018

For instance, the American Cancer Society epidemiologists determined that 59% of lung and bronchus cancers could be averted nationwide if everyone got the same care as people who went to college. —Karen Kaplan, latimes.com, 10 July 2018

Your tree, bronchi infested with crows multiplying so dense no wind or light could pass through. —Hartford Courant, courant.com, 13 June 2018

These included cancers of the prostate (which declined by an average of 7.6% per year), lung and bronchus (2.4%), larynx (2.3%), colon and rectum (1.9%), esophagus (1.6%), bladder (0.8%) and brain and nervous system (0.2%). —Karen Kaplan, latimes.com, 22 May 2018

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, going back to Late Latin, "trachea, throat," borrowed from Greek brónchos, of uncertain origin

Note: Greek brónchos has been linked with *bróchō "gulp down" (attested only in the aorist bróxai) and bróchthos "throatful, draft," though the nasal is not explicable by Indo-European-based rules. Traditionally (e.g., Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, p. 246; Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1:270) this set of words is assigned to the o-grade of an Indo-European base *g^wreg^h-, whence Middle High German krage "neck, throat, collar," Middle English crawe "crop of a bird" (from Old English *cræga; see craw), and, from a lengthened grade, Old Irish bráge "neck, throat, gullet" (genitive brágat, from a stem *brágant-), Welsh breuant "throat, larynx" (cf. Old Welsh abalbrouannou "Adam's apple"). More recently, R. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, s.v. bróxai (following Edzard Furnée, Die wichtigsten konsonantischen Erscheinungen des Vorgriechischen, p. 276) treats this set as pre-Greek substratal words, which would account for the nasal in brónchos as well the deviant a in the presumably related word bránchos "hoarseness, sore throat" (see the note at branchial).

First Known Use

circa 1706, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bronchus

noun

bron·​chus ˈbräŋ-kəs 

plural bronchi ˈbräŋ-ˌkī 

-ˌkē

: either of the main divisions of the trachea each leading to a lung

Medical Definition

bronchus

noun

bron·​chus ˈbräŋ-kəs 

plural bronchi ˈbräŋ-ˌkī, -ˌkē 

: either of the two primary divisions of the trachea that lead respectively into the right and the left lung

broadly : bronchial tube