Hepatic

//həˈpætɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any compound that acts on the liver.
2
any of numerous small green nonvascular plants of the class Hepaticopsida growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mosses wordnet
3
A liverwort (kind of plant)
"There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers."

Adjective

1
Of or relating to the liver. not-comparable
2
Acting on or occurring in the liver. not-comparable
3
Of a deep brownish-red color like that of the liver. not-comparable
"Polyhydrite, a silicate of oxide of iron from Breitenbrun, Saxony, is of a hepatic color, vitreous lustre and opaque"

Adjective

1
pertaining to or affecting the liver wordnet

Synonyms

jecoral liverwort liverwort

Example

"They have come down with a hepatic disorder."

Etymology

From Middle English epatik, from Late Latin hepaticus, from Ancient Greek ἡπατικός (hēpatikós, “of the liver”), from ἧπαρ (hêpar, “liver”).

Related phrases

hepatic air hepatic cancer hepatic capsulitis hepatic cinnabar hepatic duct hepatic flexure hepatic portal vein hepatic tanager hepatic vein

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.