A catheter is a thin, flexible tube that doctors put into the body to drain fluids or deliver medicines. It is used in many medical procedures, especially for the bladder or blood vessels.
From Late Latin 'catheter', from Greek 'kathetēr' meaning 'something let down', from 'kathienai' meaning 'to send down'. The name refers to the tube being 'sent down' into the body.
The word just means something that’s 'let down' into the body, which is surprisingly simple for such a serious tool. Once you know that, a lot of medical words with 'cathe-' suddenly feel less mysterious and more mechanical.
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