means The hollow, muscular organ in female mammals where a fertilized egg implants and a fetus develops until birth.

from Straight from Latin 'uterus,' meaning 'womb' or 'belly,' which is likely related to a Proto-Indo-European root tied to swelling or the cavity of the body — a cousin of words for 'abdomen' and 'belly.' The Greek counterpart 'hystera' (also 'womb') took a separate path into English, surfacing in 'hysteria,' from the old and discredited belief that the womb wandered the body causing emotional turmoil.