gastr(o)-

The stomach; feeding.

Greek gastēr, stomach.

In medicine, gastritis is inflammation of the stomach lining and a gastroscope is a device for examining its interior. Gastronomy is the art of choosing, cooking and eating good food. A gastropod (Greek pous, pod‑, foot) is a mollusc that feeds through its foot—the mouth aperture is in the muscular foot so it can feed from the rocks it creeps over. However, the gastrocnemius (Greek knēmē, leg), is the chief muscle of the calf of the leg which causes the calf to bulge (figuratively like the belly).

A set of words refer to the stomach together with another part of the digestive system: gastroduodenal, stomach and duodenum; gastroenteric, stomach and intestines. A more common adjective for the latter is now gastrointestinal, but a specialist in those parts of the body is always a gastroenterologist and a bacterial or viral infection of the stomach and intestines is gastroenteritis.