Likely a Proto-Yoruba innovation that displaced ẹ̀dọ̀ (“chest, heart, emotion”), which served as the term for the organ for the seat of emotion (heart). In Northwest Yoruba and Standard Yoruba, this term semantically shifted to "liver," while certain Yoruba dialects maintain the semantic meaning of ẹ̀dọ̀ "emotion, feeling." However, almost all Yoruba dialects refer to the heart organ as "ọkàn," suggesting that it was a Proto-Yoruba innovation, see Proto-Yoruba *ɔ-kã̀, with it likely not existing in Proto-Edekiri. Yoruba dialects like Southeast Yoruba not descended from Proto-Yoruba likely thus borrowed the word from nearby Proto-Yoruba speakers. Evidence of pre-Yoruba roots may be found in a possible cognate, Olukumi akan (“kidney”), suggesting the term may have been a general root for internal organs, in a similar fashion to the word fùkù.