- diaphragm (n.)
- late 14c., from Late Latin diaphragma, from Greek diaphragma "partition, barrier, muscle which divides the thorax from the abdomen," from diaphrassein "to barricade," from dia- "across" (see dia-) + phrassein "to fence or hedge in." The native word is midriff. Meaning "contraceptive cap" is from 1933.
