ascending colon
- noun
- /əˈsɛndɪŋ ˈkoʊlən/
- Specialized
- The surgeon removed a tumor from the ascending colon during the operation.
Examples
-
Remove the ascending colon from the transverse colon.
-
The doctor explained that the ascending colon connects the cecum to the transverse colon.
-
In a healthy person, the ascending colon absorbs water and salts from digested food.
Synonyms
The main part of the large intestine that absorbs water before the body passes waste
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is transparently compositional: 'ascending' (moving upward) directly modifies 'colon' (a section of the large intestine), so the phrase denotes the part of the colon that runs upward. This adjective+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the basic anatomical meaning even if they lack detailed medical knowledge.
Etymology
Ascending colon is named for where it sits in the body: ascending means 'going up' and colon is the 'large intestine', so it is the part that goes upward from the start of the large intestine.