Cae"cum (?), n.; pl. Caecums, L. Caeca (#). [L. caecus blind, invisible, concealed.] Anat. (a)

A cavity open at one end, as the blind end of a canal or duct.

(b)

The blind part of the large intestine beyond the entrance of the small intestine; -- called also the blind gut.

The caecum is comparatively small in man, and ends in a slender portion, the vermiform appendix; but in herbivorous mammals it is often as large as the rest of the large intestine. In fishes there are often numerous intestinal caeca.

 

© Webster 1913.

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