- bilious
- 1540s, "pertaining to bile, biliary," from Fr. bilieux, from L. biliosus, from bilis (see bile). Meaning "wrathful, peevish, ill-tempered" (as people afflicted with an excess of bile were believed to be) is attested from 1560s. This is the main modern sense in English and French; the more literal meaning being taken up by biliary.