different between breast vs pectus

English

Alternative forms

• brest (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English brest, from Old English br?ost, from Proto-West Germanic *breust, from Proto-Germanic *breust?, from Proto-Indo-European *b?rews- (“to swell”). Compare West Frisian boarst, Danish bryst, Swedish bröst; cf. also Dutch borst, German Brust.

Pronunciation

• enPR: br?st, IPA^(key): /b??st/
• Rhymes: -?st
• Homophone: Brest

Noun

breast (plural breasts)

1. (anatomy) Either of the two organs on the front of a female human's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in males.

2. (anatomy) The chest, or front of the human thorax.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

     The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, / For he heard the loud bassoon.

3. A section of clothing covering the breast area.
4. The figurative seat of the emotions, feelings etc.; one's heart or innermost thoughts.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I scene ii^[1]:

     […] Thou best know'st

     What torment I did find thee in. Thy groans

     Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts

     Of ever-angry bears— it was a torment

     To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax

     Could not again undo. It was mine art,

     When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape

     The pine and let thee out.

5. The ventral portion of an animal's thorax.

6. A choice cut of poultry, especially chicken or turkey, taken from the bird’s breast; also a cut of meat from other animals, breast of mutton, veal, pork.

7. The front or forward part of anything.
   • 1645, John Milton, L'Allegro

     Mountains on whose barren breast / The labouring clouds do often rest.
8. (mining) The face of a coal working.
9. (mining) The front of a furnace.
10. (obsolete) The power of singing; a musical voice.
    • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act II scene iii^[3]:

      By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast.

11. (swimming) the breaststroke

Synonyms

• (female organs): See also Thesaurus:breasts
• (chest): chest
• (seat of emotions): heart, soul
• (cut of poultry): white meat
• (cut of meat): brisket

Antonyms

• (cut of poultry): thigh, wing, dark meat

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

breast (third-person singular simple present breasts, present participle breasting, simple past and past participle breasted)

1. (transitive, often figuratively) To push against with the breast; to meet full on, oppose, face.
2. To reach the top (of a hill).
3. (transitive, cooking) To debreast.
   • 2005, Texas Judicial Cookbook: Hello There!

     Breast the birds; wash and dry well. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the birds in a roasting pan.

Translations

Anagrams

• Baster, Be star, Sterba, Tarbes, abrest, barest, baster, bestar, rebats, tabers

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pectus.

Noun

pectus (plural pectora)

1. (anatomy, zoology) The breast, especially of a bird.

Related terms

• pectoral
• pectus excavatum
• pectus carinatum

Anagrams

• cupset

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *pektos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peg- (“breast”). Cognate with Old Irish ucht.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?pek.tus/, [?p?kt??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?pek.tus/, [?p?kt?us]

Noun

pectus n (genitive pectoris); third declension

1. chest, breast
2. (figuratively) heart, breast, as the seat of emotion
3. (figuratively) soul, spirit, mind, understanding
4. person, individual (as a being of passion)

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Derived terms

Descendants

From a Vulgar Latin *pector?na:

• French: poitrine
• Spanish: pretina
• Italian: pettorina

See also

• pect?
• sinus

References

Further reading

• pectus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pectus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pectus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
• pectus in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[3], pre-publication website, 2005-2016