Pancras - pancreas

Do not confuse, as sometimes happens, the two nouns Pancras and pancreas. The first has two syllables, the second three; in both nouns, the first syllable is [[stressed: 'PAN-cras', IPA: /ˈpæn krəs/, and 'PAN-cree-as' /ˈpæn kri æs/.

• Pancras is a proper noun. It was first the name of two saints - see St Pancras for more. The name is most widely used in modern Britain to mean the great railway station in London which is the terminal for the Eurostar cross-Channel services to Europe. Domestically, its services go to Kent, the Midlands and the north-west. The station is naqmed afterthe London borough in which it was built (now incorporated into Camden). The borough was named for the church dedicated to St Pancras of Rome, probably in existence by the Norman Conquest: other places and buildings in London share the same origin.
• Pancreas is a common noun, the name of an organ in the human abdomen. In animals, it forms the offal known as the gut sweetbread. In all species, it secretes hormones and enzymes essential to digestion, notably insulin. The adjective is pancreatic, where the stress has shifted to the third syllable, 'pan-cree-AT-ik', /pæn kri ˈæt ɪk/.