cardinal humours
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
An obsolete medical term for the four principal "humours" of the body, viz. blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “cardinal humours” mean?
An obsolete medical term for the four principal "humours" of the body, viz. blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.
Is “cardinal humours” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.