- trachea
- c.1400, from M.L. trachea (c.1255), as in trachea arteria, from L.L. trachia (c.400), from Gk. trakheia, in trakheia arteria "windpipe," lit. "rough artery" (so called from the rings of cartilage that form the trachea), from fem. of trakhys "rough." See artery for connection with windpipe in Gk. science. Tracheotomy (1726) coined 1718 by Ger. surgeon Lorenz Heister (1683-1758) from Gk. -tomia "a cutting of," from tome "a cutting."