Pancreas, from the Greek pan, all, and kreas, flesh.

The original use of the term, dating to at least the time of Homer in the 8th century BC, was for any edible meat or meat-like substance. Herophilus, the 3rd century BC Greek physician out of Alexandria, was the first to use the word for the organ, naming it for its meaty appearance.

"Sweetbread" is the traditional dinner-table term for either the pancreas or thymus gland taken from calves or lambs; the culinary pancreas has also been called stomach sweetbread. Today it is typical for only the thymus to end up in a recipe while the pancreas is more likely to be sold to pharmaceutical firms.

Another word derived from kreas is creatine, the energy-storage molecule first found in skeletal muscle.