A small pouch or sac that branches off from the main tube or canal of an organ, especially in the colon of the digestive system.
From Latin 'diverticulum' (a bypath, a side road, something that diverts), from 'divertere' (to turn away). This anatomical term entered medical English via Latin during the development of modern anatomy.
Meckel's diverticulum is a remnant of fetal development that about 2% of people carry—it's essentially a leftover tube from when your digestive system was still forming, and sometimes it acts up decades later.
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