Basic medical words in English that will come in handy if you visit a doctor abroad. Common medical terms.
Useful medical words in English
The words presented in this article will be useful, rather, not to doctors, but to ordinary people who are familiar with medicine at the household level. There are no complicated medical terms here, I have selected common medical words in English that I hope you will never need!
As usual in the English words section, vocabulary collections are presented in the form of voiced electronic Quizlet cards, PDF printable cards and word lists.
Content:
General medical vocabulary in English
Among medical words, there are four similar terms: injury, illness, sickness, disease.
Take the English level test:
- Injury is a physical injury. If a kettlebell falls on your leg, it's an injury. A burn, a cut, a bruise is an injury.
- Illness – Feeling unwell, temporary malaise. If you are slightly unwell, so slightly that you do not even go to the doctor, then this is an illness. A runny nose, a cold is an illness.
- sickness – essentially the same as illness, but sickness is often understood as nausea.
- disease This is a serious disease that will not go away on its own.
| medical insurance | medical insurance |
| health | health |
| diagnosis | diagnosis |
| pulse | pulse |
| doctor | doctor |
| hygiene | hygiene |
| illness (disease) | disease |
| recovery | recovery |
| injury | trauma, injury |
| cough | cough |
| cold | cold |
| dose | dose |
| crutch | crutch |
| wheel chair | disabled carriage |
| pain killer | painkiller |
| patient | patient |
| dropper | dropper |
| patch (plaster) | patch |
| side effect | side effect |
| sleeping pills | hypnotic |
| thermometer | thermometer |
| surgery | operation (surgery) |
| syringe | syringe |
| medical examination | body check |
| blood pressure | blood pressure |
| urine test | Analysis of urine |
| drug test | drug testing |
| X-ray | x-ray |
| treatment | treatment |
| therapy | therapy |
| prescription | recipe |
| medicine (drug) | medicine |
| injection (shot) | an injection |
| pharmacy (drug store) | pharmacy |
| pills | pills |
| ointment | ointment |
| ambulance | Ambulance |
| bandage | bandage, bandage |
| first aid | first aid |
Names of diseases in English
In English, pain can be called three terms: pain, ache, hurt.
- Ache – this is pain in the medical sense, concentrated in one place: headache – headache, toothache – toothache.
- Pain – this is pain in a broader, everyday sense, usually strong, unexpected. For example, if a dog bites or hits a finger with a hammer, this is pain.
- Hurt – usually used not as a noun, but as an irregular verb to hurt – 1) to experience pain, 2) to cause pain, injury.
- my neck hurts. – My neck hurts.
- Don't play with a knife, you can hurt yourself – Do not play with a knife, you can get hurt.
All three words can be used to refer to heartache.
- My behavior caused my parents a lot of heartache. — My behavior caused my parents a lot of emotional distress.
- It took her years to move past the pain of her divorce. It took her years to overcome the pain caused by the divorce.
- Sally was extremely hurt that Molly didn't invite her to her wedding. Sally was hurt that Molly didn't invite her to her wedding.
| abscess | abscess, abscess |
| ache (pain, hurt) | pain |
| allergy | allergy |
| asthma | asthma |
| bronchitis | bronchitis |
| cruise | bruise |
| burn | burn |
| cancer | cancer |
| cold | cold |
| cold (in the head) | runny nose |
| cut | a cut |
| diabetes | diabetes |
| diarrhea | diarrhea |
| fever | повышенная температура |
| flu (influenza) | flu |
| fracture | Fracture |
| giddiness (dizziness) | dizziness |
| Headache. | headache |
| heart attack | heart attack |
| pus | pus |
| rash | rash |
| sickness | тошнота (также: болезнь) |
| Stroke. | stroke |
| sunstroke | sunstroke |
| symptom | symptom |
| toothache | toothache |
| Wound. | wound |
| gunshot wound | gunshot wound |
Медицинский персонал на английском
К врачам на английском языке принято обращаться «doctor» или «doctor + фамилия». На тему обращений, кстати, есть отдельная статья: Обращения в английском языке.
Обратите внимание на слово therapist — иногда его ошибочно понимают как «терапевт», но это физиотерапевт или иногда психотерапевт. К слову «терапевт» в нашем понимании ближе английское family doctor (семейный врач, врач общей практики) или physician.
Надеюсь, врачи не обидятся за то, что я добавил в список (так сказать, для кругозора) слово healer — целитель. Это не врач, а тот, кто исцеляет (или делает вид, что исцеляет) нетрадиционными способами.
| doctor | доктор, врач |
| nurse | nurse |
| physician | врач (медик, терапевт) |
| veterinarian | veterinarian |
| family doctor | семейный врач (лечащий врач) |
| dentist | dentist |
| surgeon | surgeon |
| anesthesiologist | anesthetist |
| cardiologist | cardiologist |
| traumatologist | traumatologist |
| orthopedist | orthopedist |
| gastroenterologist | Gastroenterologist |
| dermatologist | dermatologist |
| gynecologist | gynecologist |
| urologist | urologist |
| ophthalmologist | Okulist, ophthalmologist |
| therapist | physiotherapist |
| pediatrician | pediatrician |
| healer | healer |
Тело человека (с медицинской точки зрения)
Слова на тему «Тело человека» уже были в подборке английской фитнес-лексики, но там речь шла о теле со спортивной точки зрения: бицепсы, квадрицепсы и т. д. Я переделал эту подборку, чтобы она больше соответствовала медицинской тематике. С помощью этих слов вы сможете объяснить, что болит. А если не поможет, то покажите пальцем 🙂