innards
UK[ˈɪnədz]US[ˈɪnərdz]
n
The internal organs of a human or animal, especially the intestines
n
The inner workings or parts of a machine or structure
Etymology
The word 'innards' is a 19th-century lexicalization of the dialectal form 'inwards,' which itself is a variant of the standard English 'inward.' 'Inward' originates from Old English 'inweard,' a compound of 'in' (from Proto-Germanic in) and the suffix '-weard' (meaning "toward"). The Proto-Germanic root in is derived from the Proto-Indo-European en, meaning "in." Over time, the adjectival 'inwards' was reinterpreted as a plural noun referring specifically to the internal parts of a body or object. This evolution demonstrates a common linguistic process where a descriptive term for location or direction becomes concretized as a noun denoting the physical entities found in that internal space.
Analysis
The word is a lexicalized plural form derived from a dialectal variant of the word "inwards," treated as a simplex noun.
Examples
The butcher carefully removed the animal's innards.
You need to understand the innards of a computer to fix it properly.
The very thought of eating something's innards made her feel queasy.