pectoro-, pector- +

(Latin: breast, chest)

Ab imo pectore (Latin phrase)
Translation: "From the bottom of the breast or chest."

The equivalent of "speaking from the heart" or "sincerely". It sounds peculiar until you realize that to the Romans the breast (pectus) was the source both of reason and of the emotions. So to speak ab imo pectore means the same thing as to "speak from the bottom of one's heart".

When describing her love for James, Pam declared that she was speaking ab imo pectore.

angina pectoris
1. Sever pain around the heart caused by a relative deficiency of oxygen supply to the heart muscle.
2. It occurs most often after increased activity, exercise, or a stressful event.
3. Pain or numbness typically radiates to the left shoulder and down the left arm and may also radiate to the back or jaw.
expectorant (s) (noun), expectorants (pl)
1. Promoting or facilitating the secretion or expulsion of phlegm, mucus, or other matter from the respiratory tract.
2. A medication that helps bring up mucus and other material from the lungs, bronchi, and trachea.

An example of an expectorant is guaifenesin (expectorant drug used to thin mucus and sputum) which promotes drainage of mucus from the lungs by thinning the mucus and also lubricates the irritated respiratory tract.

Sometimes the term expectorant is incorrectly extended to any cough medicine. It comes from the Latin expectorare, "to expel from the chest"; from ex-, "out of" + pectus, "chest".

expectorate (verb), expectorates; expectorated; expectorating
1. To eject from the throat or lungs by coughing and spitting.
2. To eject saliva, mucus, or other body fluid from the mouth; to spit.
3. To clear out the chest and lungs by coughing up and spitting out matter; such as, mucous.
4. To cough up and spit out phlegm, thus clearing the bronchial passages.
5. Etymology: "to clear out the chest or lungs," from Latin expectoratus, past participle of expectore, "scorn, expel from the mind"; litterally "to make a clean breast" from ex-, "out" + pectus, "breast, chest".


expectoration (s) (noun), expectorations (pl)
1. The process of coughing up and spitting out.
2. The act of spitting and forcefully expelling saliva.
3. A polysyllabic word for sputum or the act of bringing up and spitting out sputum.
expectorative (adjective)
Having the quality of promoting expectoration.
expectorator (s) (noun), expectorators (pl)
1. A person who spits, or ejects saliva or phlegm from the mouth.
2. Someone who expels matter; such as, phlegm, from the throat or lungs by coughing and spitting it out.
imo pectore
From the bottom or depths of the heart.

Also ab imo pectore: "From the bottom of the breast or chest."

in pectore
In secret.

Anything done in pectore is done literally "in the breast"; such as, the designation of a cardinal by a pope without public announcement. The designation is said to be in pectore.

When the pope names new cardinals, sometimes he will announce that one or more are named in pectore; that is, "secretly". The name, or names, are not announced publicly and only the pope knows the name and even the new cardinal is aware that he has been chosen. Usually, it is not recorded anywhere.

During times of political hostilities, popes used in pectore

As anti-Catholic hostility among various governments became common, in pectore appointments became more common during the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Pope Pius VII created eleven cardinals in pectore; despite the anti-Church hostility of the French Revolution, all of them were eventually published, as were Pope Leo XII's three in pectore appointments.

The outbreak of major revolutions in Europe during the late 1820s caused the proportion of in pectore appointments to all cardinal appointments to rise dramatically: Pope Pius VIII created thirteen cardinals, but only five of them were ever published, while Pope Gregory XVI created as many as twenty-eight cardinals out of a total of eighty in pectore; of which five were unpublished.

Also, creati et reservati in pectore is a term which means, "create cardinals without declaring their names"; that is, "in the chest".

—Based on information from
The Catholic Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia Press, Inc.; 1922.
"Catholic World News":
1. A chest muscle or organ: "He tried every day to exercise and to build his pectorals."
2. Something that is worn on the chest as a decoration or ornament.
3. A covering or protecting for the breast or chest.
4. A medicine for chest or respiratory disorders; especially the lungs.
5. Relating to, or good for, diseases of the chest or lungs; as, a pectoral remedy.
6. Having the breast conspicuously colored; such as, the pectoral sandpiper.
7. A reference to a pectoral fin on a fish.
1. Pain in the chest; also known as, stethalgia, thoracalgia, and thoracodynia.
2. Pain in the pectoral muscles.
Either of two muscles on each side of the upper and anterior part of the thorax.

The action of the larger (pectoralis major) assists in drawing the shoulder forward and rotating the arm inward, and the action of the smaller (pectoralis minor) assists in drawing the shoulder downward and forward.

1. Voice sounds of increased resonance heard through the chest wall.
2. Transmission of the voice sound through the pulmonary structures so that it is unusually audible on auscultation of the chest, indicating either consolidation of the lung parenchyma or the presence of a large cavity.
3. The distinct articulation of the sounds of a patient's voice, heard when applying the ear to the chest in auscultation.

It usually indicates some morbid change in the lungs or pleural cavity.

Voice sounds of increased resonance heard through the chest wall; also, pectoriloquy.
Tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus.
A wound unuttered lives deep within the breast.


Cross references of word families that are related, partially or totally, to: "breast, breasts, chest": mammill-; mammo-; masto-; mastoido-; mazo-; pleuro-; sterno-; stetho-; thorac-.