pancreas

/ˈpeɪŋkriɪs/

/ˈpeɪŋkriəs/

Other forms: pancreases

The pancreas is part of the digestive system. It helps the stomach digest food. It’s a large, long gland that secretes insulin and digestive enzymes.

Although the stomach gets the most of the credit for digesting food, it has a helper — the pancreas. The pancreas hides behind your stomach and helps digest and absorb nutrients, and it also helps you maintain a healthy blood sugar level by secreting insulin. This dual function makes the pancreas part endocrine (for the insulin) and part exocrine (for the digestive juices). These two functions make the pancreas important, but you can actually live without it.

Definitions of pancreas

1. noun

   a large elongated exocrine gland located behind the stomach; secretes pancreatic juice and insulin
   type of:

   duct gland, exocrine, exocrine gland

   a gland that secretes externally through a duct