The word comes from the Greek kardia meaning heart, the cardiac orifice of the stomach.

They are few in number and occur close to the cardiac orifice where the esophagus joins the stomach.

"But I think 'inside His Supremacy' would be closer; about fifty yards along the pharynx, on the threshold of the cardiac orifice, to be precise."

This epithelium commences very abruptly at the cardiac orifice, where there is a sudden transition from the stratified epithelium of the esophagus.

Food enters the stomach through the cardiac orifice where it is further broken apart and thoroughly mixed with gastric acid, pepsin and other digestive enzymes to break down proteins.

The fundus of the stomach is the left portion of the stomach's body, and is marked off from the remainder of the body by a plane passing horizontally through the cardiac orifice.

Starting from the cardiac orifice at the incisura cardiaca, it forms an arch backward, upward, and to the left; the highest point of the convexity is on a level with the sixth left costal cartilage.

The esophagus is a narrow muscular tube about 20-30 centimeters long, which starts at the pharynx at the back of the mouth, passes through the thoracic diaphragm, and ends at the cardiac orifice of the stomach.

The postero-inferior surface of the stomach is covered by peritoneum, except over a small area close to the cardiac orifice; this area is limited by the lines of attachment of the gastrophrenic ligament, and lies in apposition with the diaphragm, and frequently with the upper portion of the left suprarenal gland.