Anat. Also 6 ieiunium. [Mediæval application of L. jējūnum, neuter of jējūnus JEJUNE a. (sc. intestinum). So F. jejunum (1541 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
The second part of the small intestine, between the duodenum and ileum, the limits of which, where it passes into the ileum, are ill-defined.
[1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xlii. (1495), 158. The seconde subtyll gutte in latyn is callyd ieiunium to vnderstonde in englyssh, fastynge, for he is alwaye voyde of mete and drynke, that gutte putteth of al thynges fro it selfe, and holdith no thynge to his owne fedynge.]
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., H iv. After this is the gut that hyght Ieiunium, bycause it is alwayes emptye for the greate multytude of messerayke veynes that be aboute it contynually suckynge it.
1706. Phil. Trans., XXV. 2302. The cæcum … red coloured like the jejunum in a Man.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 613. The jejunum occupies the two upper fifths of the small intestine, and the ileum the rest of its extent. It is easy enough to see that such a division is arbitrary and has no sufficient foundation.
