ESL Doctors Vocabulary List with Definitions
The following ESL doctors vocabulary will help you if you ever need to get medical help. It shows both American and British English.
- Accident and emergency - A department in a hospital to treat urgent cases. (British English) (noun)
- Ache - A pain that is often at a low level but constant, often in a joint. (noun)
- Allergy - A reaction to something that causes a rash or other symptoms, e.g. peanut allergy. (noun)
- Antibiotics - A type of medicine that is used to treat infections by bacteria. (noun)
- Appointment - The specific time and place of a meeting between people, e.g. with a doctor. (noun)
- Bacteria - Very small organisms that can cause illnesses. (noun)
- Bed rest - To stay in bed until better. (noun)
- Better - To have stopped being ill, to have recovered. (adjective)
- Casualty - A department in a hospital to treat urgent cases. (British English) (noun)
- Chemist - A place, or shop, where medicines are kept, prepared and sold. (British English) (noun)
- Cold - An illness of the nose and throat that is caused by a virus. (noun)
- Consulting room - The room where a doctor meets with patients in private. (noun)
- Cough - To empty the lungs of air quickly and often noisily. (verb)
- Cure - To make a person better when they have an illness. (verb)
- Cut - Damage to the skin, often not deep or serious. (noun)
- Dehydrated - To not have enough water in the body. (adjective)
- Diagnosis - To look at the patient's symptoms and decide what is wrong with them. (noun)
- Disease - Something that causes a person's health to be bad. (noun)
- Doctor - A person trained to treat ill people. (noun)
- Emergency room (ER) - A department in a hospital to treat urgent cases. (American English) (noun)
- Examine - The process of studying a patient to see what is wrong. (verb)
- Fever - To have a high temperature. (noun)
- Flu - A viral disease that causes a high temperature. (noun)
- Food poisoning - An infection in the stomach from eating food that was not properly prepared (often not cooked enough). (noun)
- General Practitioner (GP) - A doctor that works in a surgery in the local community and not a hospital. Is not a specialist in one area but can treat all illnesses. (noun)
- Headache - A pain in the head. (noun)
- Health - The concept of how a person's body is. (noun)
- Health center - A building where GPs and nurses work. (noun)
- Hospital - A place where patients go when they are too ill to stay at home so they can have 24 hour a day care. (noun)
- House call - When a doctor visits patients in their home rather than them going to see the doctor in the surgery. (noun)
- Ill - To have a disease or health problem. (adjective)
- Illness - Something that causes a person's health to be bad. (noun)
- Infection - When the body is being attacked by a bacteria, fungus or virus. (noun)
- Joint - Where two bones join and there is movement, e.g. elbow, knee, wrist. (noun)
- Medicine - Something to make an ill person better. (noun)
- Nurse - A person who looks after people who are ill. (noun)
- On-call - When a doctor has to be available to see patients, often at nighttime. (adjective)
- Patient - Someone who is being treated by a doctor or is in a hospital. (noun)
- Pharmacy - A place, or shop, where medicines are kept, prepared and sold. (noun)
- Poorly - To have a disease or health problem. (adjective)
- Practice - A local doctor's place of work. (noun)
- Prescription - A written note from a doctor saying what medicine is to be given to the patient. (noun)
- Rash - Red marks on the skin, often caused by an allergy. (noun)
- Receptionist - A person who answers telephones and makes appointments. (noun)
- Recover - To stop feeling ill. (verb)
- Refer - When a doctor sends a patient to see a different doctor, often a specialist. (verb)
- Registered - A person who is listed as being allowed to treat sick people. (adjective)
- Sneezing - To send air out of the nose often in a violent and loud way. (noun)
- Specialist - A doctor that only treats one type of illness or problem, e.g. heart specialist. (noun)
- Surgery (UK) - A building where a GP works and patients can visit them. (noun)
- Symptoms - The signs of an illness, e.g. fever, cough, sneezing. (noun)
- Test results - Detailed information about a patient's illness. (noun)
- Treat - To try to cure an illness. (verb)
- Treatment - What is done to try to make a person better. (noun)
- Unwell - To have a disease or health problem. (adjective)
- Virus - A very small organism that can cause illnesses. (noun)
- Vomit - To empty the stomach through the mouth. (verb)
- Waiting room - A room in a surgery or hospital where patients wait before seeing the doctor. (noun)
- Well - To not be ill. (adjective)
- Wheelchair - A chair with wheels used to move a person who is too ill to walk. (noun)
- Wound - Damage to the body, often a cut. (noun)
