Comprehensive dictionary of medicine

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Medical terms are often derived from Greek and Latin with terms that are often not easy to understand. If you search online for a free medical dictionary, you often end up with subscription based sources or spammy websites. There is an immense need for a comprehensive, modern, and up to date medical dictionary that is available free of cost and online.

Free online medical dictionary

In order to build a modern, but free online medical dictionary, WikiMD aims to use the public domain resources such as the classic Stedman's medical dictionary, sixth edition published in 1920.

Stedman's classic medical dictionary (public domain)

The original text is available at Cornell University Library and there are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text

Preface to Stedman's classic medical dictionary

John Hunter once said, "of all things on the face of the earth definitions are the most accursed." Another acute observer, long before the day of the professional critic, exclaimed from the fulness of his vengeful heart, "Oh, that mine enemy would write a book!" Mindful of these sayings and well aware that many may think the lexicological needs of the medical reader are already met, I have nevertheless, for several years, devoted the spare hours of a busy life to the making of a new medical dictionary.

In explanation of such temerity, and by way of apology, I may be permitted to give my reasons for undertaking the labor, by noting the special features which a long editorial experience, a personal desire for special information, and the queries of manycorrespondents have led me to believe are desirable in a work of this nature. The vocabulary of science is founded mainly upon the Greek and to a lesser extent upon the Latin, but has in any case a Latin form, and this unfortunate conjunction has resulted in many barbaric and cacophonic mixtures, painful to the ear and vexatious to the spirit of any one with a sense of linguistic fitness. If it were possible, a moulding of the language of medicine on pure Greek or Latin forms were most desirable, but the speech of man is wilful and cannot be coerced; at most an attempt can be made to guide it, or to point out what is preferable.

It is not the function of a lexicographer to deny the right of citizenship to every word that is not constructed upon strict etymological lines, and.it would do little good if he did, but he can indicate the correct terms and throw the weight of whatever authority may be accorded him on the right side. This I have endeavored to do. For example, one who consults this dictionary for a definition of oophorectomy will be referred to oothecotomy and under that title will find the definition. If, however, a barbarous word is in such common use that it were pedantic to, question its right of existence, it will be defined, but the correct term will also be given. For example, ovariotomy (of mixed Latin and Greek derivation and therefore deplorable) is defined under that title, but a correct synonym, oothecotom.y, is also given, and the consulter can use the proper term, or can continue in his evil course as he will.

Even under appendicitis, though with faint hope of the suggestion being adopted, the preferable term, scolecoiditis, is indicated. Especial attention has been paid to synonyms, these being noted under the word defined, and also inserted as main titles with cross reference to the one selected for definition. In this relation attention may be called to the lists in small type, inserted here and there under the English titles, noting the scientific terms for the various conditions associated with the part. If the reader will turn to abdomen, foot, hand, pain, phobia, uterus, and manyother titles, he will see, without further explanation, what I have there attempted to accomplish.

A dictionary is not intended for consecutive reading (thoilgh some have claimed to find pleasure, and even amusement, in this pursuit) but rather for the acquirement of knowledge or the satisfaction of curiosity with the least expenditure of time and trouble.

A work of this kind should therefore afford every facility for such laudable effort, and should not balk it by interrupting the normal alphabetical arrangement with long lists of subtitles or tables breaking the continuity of the pages. Nevertheless, subtitles are sometimes necessary, and tables, as of the arteries, muscles, nerves, etc., cannot be dis- pensed with.

I have endeavored to preserve these essential features, without increasing the difficulty of consultation, by several devices. In the first place the eponymic terms—and their name is legion—have been inserted as main titles; Addison's disease, Bright's disease, Camper's angle, Cooper's hernia, Hutchinson's triad, Scarpa's space, etc., are defined under the proper name, and not under disease, angle, hernia, triad, space, etc.

This arrangement materially shortens the long and confusing lists of subtitles and at the same time affords the opportunity for the insertion of brief biographical details regarding nationahty, profession, and dates of birth and death, which have always a human interest and are subjects of a legitimate curiosity. In other cases the qualifying word has been inserted as the main title, but only when this is the more obvious arrangement ; typhoid fever, for example, is commonly called simply typhoid, and it is therefore defined under typhoid instead of under fever.

When there is any doubt as to which word of a compound term would naturally be looked for, a cross reference is given to the main title. In cross references to a compound term, when uncertainty might arise as to the main title, this is indicated by an asterisk (*) appended to one of the words in the term. When the subtitles are many and not eponymic, reference to them has been facilitated by placing them in the form of a table of column width, distinguished by type of smaller size, under the main title, but alphabetically arranged, so that the one wanted will strike the eye at once. The lists of arteries, muscles, nerves, drugs, etc., have been arranged in the same way so as not to interrupt the alphabetical sequence by page-wide tables.

These tables, or lists, embrace all the official preparations of the United States Pharmacopoeia and the British Pharmacopoeia, as well as those of the National Formulary, and also all the anatomical terms, these being placed under the Latin titles, with cross-references from the English names. The tables of weights and measures, comparative thermometrical and barometrical scales, the chemical elements with their symbols and atomic weights, and other tabular data have been placed in the Appendix, where they properly belong, since they are not, strictly speaking, definitions.

The Basle Anatomical Nomenclature, adopted in 1895, has been slow in winning its way in England and America, but is doing so surely and is now generally taught in the medical schools and is found in the anatomical text- books. All the words sanctioned by the convention are given the preference in this dictionary, and when they differ from the terms formerly in use and still employed by the majority of older writers, they are indicated by the sign [BNA].

Medicine touches other sciences at so many points that the terms relating to them cannot be ignored, even in a purely medical dictionary; accordingly an effort has been made to include definitions of all the chemical, botanical, dental, and veterinary words which a physician is likely to meet in his reading.

The fact that there are many thousand insurance examiners in this country has led me to believe that the definitions of the terms relating to this branch, such as the different forms of insurance, life-tables, poUcies, risks, etc., would be found useful, and they have therefore been introduced in considerable number. .'

The sectarian lines which have divided medical practitioners are, happily, gradually fading away. Homeopathic and eclectic physicians no longer ignore the discoveries of modem experimental medicine, but rather are doing their part to advance true science. On the other hand, therapeutists of all schools are learning that there is virtue in homeopathy and isopathy, as well as in enantiopathy and allopathy, that, in fact, there is but one science of medicine, and they are ready to apply any one of these healing principles in suit- able cases.

Prejudice and antagonism are often based largely upon misunderstanding of terms, and in the effort to remove such misunderstanding and to promote unity among the practitioners of the therapeutic art, I have defined the terms peculiar to homeopathic and eclectic therapeutics.

Balneotherapy does not enjoy the repute in this country and Great Britain that it has on the Continent of Europe; nevertheless references to mineral springs are sufficiently numerous in medical literature to make it desirable to supply certain data regarding them, and it has consequently seemed advisable to include details regarding the composition and the therapeutic indications of the most important spas in Europe and America.

Special attention has been paid to the etymology of the words used in medicine, for nothing aids so much in fixing a definition in one's memory as a knowledge of the formation of the term; therefore the chief sources of our language, Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Greek, and to a slight extent Arabic, have been indicated under the main titles and, where necessary, under the subtitles as well.

In the case of the Greek sources, it has been thought best, after mature deliberation, to give them in Roman letters rather than Greek. This has been rendered advisable because of the deplorable tendency to eliminate Greek from the curriculum of preparatory schools and colleges, with the result that only a small percentage of even well educated physicians of the present day can read the Greek characters.

I have therefore yielded to this tendency in the transliteration of the Greek words, but under protest, and I wish to register here the conviction that the elimination of Greek in our schools has done much to barbarize the language of medicine and to render necessary special dictionaries of this science. Some day the pendulum will swing the other way and a new renaissance will once more join culture to knowledge to make the perfect physician.

In the transliteration of the Greek words, the gamma (7) preceding another gamma (7), a kappa (k), or a chi (x) is represented by n, which is the sonant value of the gamma in such situations. In the spelling of medical terms, preference has been given to the simpler forms. In the matter of the elimination of the diphthongs, cb and ce,iX is a significant fact that the languages which are the direct descendants of the Latin, especially the Italian and the Spanish, have dropped the a and the o, while the double vowels have been retained only by the Teutonic languages.

It is surely proper to admit that this has been a natural process for those who have used the words from the beginning, and that the daughters of the Latin have a finer instinct for the genius of the parent tongue, which even in classical times showed a tendency to drop the diphthongs. In English these words were originally exotic and were adopted with their classical spelling; but even with us, as they became incorporated into the language the unenglish diphthongs were dropped.

We write equal and economy and not asqual and (economy; surely hemorrhage and edematous, and other words of similar deri- vation, are now legitimate English and should not be spelled haimorrhage and cedematous. Those who still cling to the old spellings will, however, find them here given as alternatives. In the spelling of medicinal terms the authority of the Pharmacopoeia has been recognized, and the convenient distinction between alkaloids and glucosides, -ine for the former and -in for the latter, has been retained.

The spelling of chemical terms recommended twenty years ago by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (the dropping of e in words like chlorine and chloride) has not been adopted here, for the reason that the chemists themselves are divided in their use of it, many of the Americans and almost all of the English still adhering to the old spelling; moreover the American Chemical Society specifically directs that the ending -ine shall always be employed for basic substances, -in being used for glucosides, bitter principles, proteins, etc.

In words derived from the Greek, the k (kappa) is represented by English c, especially before a hard vowel. This is in accordance with the genius of the Latin as well as of the English. We write catalepsy and cone, why then should we write katabolism and leukocyte f If karyokinesia, why not leukokytef Leucocyte is preferable and so is caryocinesia. In writing on medical chemistry, authors are wont, for the sake of brevity, to employ the chemical symbols instead of writing out the name.

Not as a mark of approval of this custom, but as an aid to the reader of such articles, who may be rusty in his chemistry, a number of the most common chemical formulae have been here introduced as main titles with their definitions in ordinary language. Every effort has naturally been made to avoid errors of typography; but some there may be, and the author 's thanks are extended in advance to sharpeyed critics who will call his attention to any such that they find. He will be grateful also to those who will point out any possible errors of definition or of omission which may have crept in among the many thousands of titles.

In conclusion, I desire to express my thanks to Dr. Emma E. Walker who has contributed the balneological titles and many of the dental and veterinary terms, and has rendered great assistance in the laborious collection of biographical data. To my wife I am indebted for help in every step of the undertaking. It were ungrateful to omit an acknowledgment of the generous encouragement and assistance extended to me by the Publishers during all the years this work has been in preparation; without their sympathetic cooperation the difficulties of the task would have been almost insuperable.

External resources

• Classic Stedman's medical dictionary (public domain)

See also

• Encyclopedia of Medicine
• List of Medical terms
• Cancer terms
• Drugs
• Cancer drugs
• Health topics
• Rare diseases
• List of lists

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