Bile Gave English Its Word for Bad Temper
Bile is a digestive fluid made by the liver. Medieval medicine blamed it for anger, and the language kept the connection.
Bile is a bitter greenish fluid made by the liver to help digest fats. Medieval medicine held that four humours governed temperament, and two of them were bile: *yellow bile* made you *choleric*, quick to anger, and *black bile* made you *melancholic*, from Greek *melan cholia*, black bile. Both words survive though the theory does not. Saying someone is *full of bile* still means bitterly angry, four centuries after the medicine was abandoned.
- A digestive fluid. *Bile from the liver.*
- Bitter anger. *Full of bile.*
- Choleric — quick-tempered. *Choleric.*
- Melancholy — black bile. *Melancholy.*
- Latin — *bilis*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bile | Bile. |
| Adjective | bilious | Bilious. |
| Related | choleric | Choleric. |
| Related | melancholy | Melancholy. |
| Latin | bilis | Bile. |
- Bile helps digest fats.Medicine.
- The letter was full of bile.Anger.
- Melancholy means black bile.Etymology.
The four humours
- Blood — sanguine, cheerful and optimistic
- Phlegm — phlegmatic, calm and unexcitable
- Yellow bile — choleric, quick to anger
- Black bile — melancholic, sad and thoughtful
- All four words survive as personality terms
French *bile*, from Latin *bilis*, bile or anger.
Why does bile mean anger?
Medieval medicine held that yellow bile made a person quick-tempered. The theory was abandoned but the vocabulary stayed.
What does melancholy literally mean?
Black bile, from Greek melan and cholia, the humour thought to cause sadness.