30 common medical terms
- Abrasion: typically non-serious scrape or cut
- Abscess: pocket of pus that forms due to an infection
- Acute: short-term illness, usually of rapid onset – of varying severity
- Anaemia: condition when the level of haemoglobin, the protein in blood which carries oxygen round the body, is lower than normal
- Benign: will not cause cancer; not cancerous
- Biopsy: taking of a tiny sample of tissue for examination under a microscope
- Catheter: a small tube that can be passed through part of the body; for example through the urethra (to empty the bladder); or into a vein (for dialysis)
- Chronic: long-term illness, usually of gradual onset – of varying severity
- Contusion: bruise
- Defibrillator: device that restores a normal heart rhythm, by delivering an electric shock
- Embolus (or embolism): thrombus (clot) that has spread from somewhere else in the body (see thrombus)
- Epidermis: skin’s outer layer
- Fracture: broken bone or cartilage
- Gland: tissue or organ which produces a fluid for a certain purpose
- Haematoma: solid swelling of clotted blood within tissues
- Hypertension: high blood pressure
- Inpatient: patient admitted to a hospital
- Intravenous (IV): fluid or medication delivered through a vein
- Malignant: cancerous
- Metastatic: cancer that has spread (may be treatable)
- Nasogastric (NG): fluid or medication delivered through nose and into stomach
- Oedema: excessive fluid in body tissues (especially legs and lungs)
- Outpatient: patient that is treated without a hospital admission
- Prognosis: the predicted result of a disease’s progression
- Relapse: reappearance of a disease or symptoms after a patient has recovered
- Subcutaneous (‘subcut’; SC): fluid or medication delivered under the skin
- Sutures: stitches
- Thrombus: blood clot in artery or vein (see embolus)
- Transplant: process of removing an organ from one individual and placing it in another
- Vaccine: substance that promotes antibody production to boost immunity against disease.
Other medical terms
- Sclerosis: hardening of tissue, typically due to excessive fibrosis
- Sepsis: life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to an infection
- Signs: what a doctor can see or find when they examine you
- Symptoms: what you feel
- Stenosis: abnormal narrowing of a body channel or passage
- Ulcer: sore that develops on the lining of the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, or intestines
- Zoonotic disease: sickness that is transmissible from animals to humans.
Other resources
A-Z of medical terms
40 common medical abbreviations and acronyms
40 common medical prefixes and suffixes
20 common diseases named after people (eponyms)
Last Reviewed on 25 May 2024