This word has three combined roots. [Chol-] or [chole-] meaning "bile", [-doch-] meaning "duct", and [-lith-], meaning " stone". The initial two combined roots [choledoch-] mean "bile duct." Many teach that [choledoch-] means "common bile duct'; although this is an accepted use of the term, it is not its true meaning.

The suffix [-iasis] means "condition". Therefore, the medical word [choledocholithiasis] means "condition of stones in the bile duct" , or more commonly understood as, "condition of stones in the common bile duct".