From Latin 'glans' (acorn), from PIE *gʷelh₂- — anatomical organs named for their acorn-like shape.
An organ in the body that produces and releases substances such as hormones, enzymes, or other chemicals for use in the body or for discharge.
From French 'glande' and Latin 'glandula' (gland of the throat, tonsil), diminutive of Latin 'glāns' (acorn, nut; also the rounded tip of certain body parts), genitive 'glandis.' Latin 'glāns' descends from PIE *gʷelh₂- (acorn, oak-nut), which also produced Greek βάλανος (bálanos, acorn, also glans), Old Church Slavonic 'želǫdь' (acorn), Lithuanian 'gilė' (acorn), and Old English 'æcern' (acorn — the English word 'acorn' has a different but related history). The anatomical naming came from ancient physicians who noticed that lymph nodes and certain
Every gland in the body is, etymologically, an 'acorn.' The Roman anatomists who named these structures thought they resembled acorns — rounded, compact lumps embedded in tissue, like acorns in their cups. The anatomical term 'glans' (the rounded tip of the penis or clitoris) preserves the Latin word for acorn with its original spelling. The connection between