The Organ Once Blamed for Bad Temper
The spleen filters blood. In older medicine it was thought to produce melancholy and anger, which is why venting your spleen means losing your temper.
The spleen is an organ that filters blood and helps the immune system. In the medicine of the four humours it was the seat of black bile, and therefore of melancholy and ill temper — which is why English still says *to vent one's spleen* for an angry outburst, centuries after the theory was abandoned. Baudelaire titled a section of his poems *Spleen* for exactly that mood.
- An abdominal organ. *A ruptured spleen.*
- Bad temper (literary). *He vented his spleen in a letter.*
- Splenic — the medical adjective. *The splenic artery.*
- Splenetic — bad-tempered. *A splenetic review.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | spleen | An enlarged spleen. |
| Adjective | splenic | Splenic rupture. |
| Adjective | splenetic | A splenetic tone. |
| Verb phrase | vent one's spleen | He vented his spleen. |
| Greek | splen | The source word. |
- The spleen was removed after the accident.Surgery.
- The article was pure spleen.Literary: bad temper.
- A splenetic response to a mild question.The adjective.
The four humours and the words they left
- Blood — sanguine, cheerful and optimistic
- Phlegm — phlegmatic, calm and unexcitable
- Yellow bile — choleric, quick to anger
- Black bile — melancholic, from Greek for black bile, and linked to the spleen
- Good humour — the phrase itself is a survival of the theory
Greek *splen*, through Latin and Old French. The emotional senses date from the 1300s and reflect humoral medicine, in which the spleen was the source of black bile.
Can you live without a spleen?
Yes, though the risk of certain infections rises and vaccination is usually recommended afterwards.
Why does venting your spleen mean losing your temper?
Because medieval medicine held the spleen responsible for bitter and melancholy moods.