Gutting
/ˈɡʌtɪŋ/noun
The act of removing the internal organs or contents of something; also, in informal use, something that is deeply upsetting or devastating.
Did you know?Its deepest ancestry is the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵewd- / *ǵud- meaning ‘to pour, spout,’ which may also lie behind words for the body’s passages and channels — a reminder that language often maps life as flow before it maps it as flesh.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵewd- / *ǵud-
“to pour, spout, flow”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*gudą
“guts, entrails”
Old English
OE
gutta
“a gut, entrail”
Middle English
ME
gutten
“to remove the entrails; to empty out”
Modern English
English
gutting
“removing the contents or entrails; figuratively, devastating”