DictionaryRoot: saliva
Latin

saliva

spittle

1 / 1
A clean saliva droplet on the tongue inside a simple medical mouth diagram, no gross detail.
noun

saliva

suh-LYE-vuh/səˈlaɪvə/

Watery fluid produced in the mouth.

Etymology

Latin saliva already meant “spittle,” naming the mouth’s fluid. Its reconstructed deeper ancestry connects it with color terms meaning “dirty” or “gray,” also associated with sallow.

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