Caecum

The caecum (also spelled cecum), the first portion of the large bowel, situated in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. The caecum receives fecal material from the small bowel (ileum) which opens into it. The appendix is attached to the caecum. The word "caecum" comes from the Latin "caecus" meaning "blind." This refers to the fact that the bottom of the caecum is a blind pouch (a cul de sac) leading nowhere.

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SYN: cecum.

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n.

a blind-ended pouch at the junction of the small and large intestines, situated below the ileocaecal valve. The upper end is continuous with the colon and the lower end bears the vermiform appendix. See alimentary canal.

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cae·cum (seґkəm) [L.] 1. a blind pouch or cul-de-sac. 2. [TA] the first part of the large intestine, forming a dilated pouch into which open the ileum, colon, and vermiform appendix. Spelled also cecum.