Plural of crypt: underground chambers, especially burial vaults beneath churches, or small pit-like structures in body tissues that perform specialized functions.
From Latin 'crypta', derived from Greek 'krypte' (hidden place), originally describing underground burial chambers in Roman catacombs.
Your intestines are lined with millions of tiny structures called crypts of Lieberkühn that manufacture your gut lining—medieval cathedral crypts and your gut literally use the same word because they're both hidden, functional chambers!
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