Abstract
The article introduces the Greek anatomical term κόλον in the context of its internal structure and etymological relations in other Indo-European branches. The studied anatomical terms are widely discussed from the point of view of their semantics. The second part follows the fate of Greek κόλον, when it was adapted into other languages, first into Latin. The Latin adaptation colon, reinterpreted as the indeclinable n-stem, became an integral part of medieval medicine terminology. From Latin, it was adapted into French, and later into English. Finally, the most frequent medicine term consisting of colon is discussed, namely, two variants of the compound coloscopy vs. colonoscopy.