Doctor Talk Decoded: English Medical Terms Made Easy

Whether you are learning English for your own pleasure, to boost your career, or for travel, there is always a set of words that is good to know – medical terms for laypeople. Being sick in a foreign country is hard enough with the stress of navigating an unfamiliar health system and the feeling of being lonely and isolated. You should not also have to worry about having difficulty communicating with doctors and nurses.

In this article you will see the most common English medical terms that anyone, whether they work in medicine or not, should know. These words are divided into useful categories to help you learn and memorize them.

Parts of the body

You probably already know common body parts like leg and arm and even body parts inside the body, like heart or brain. Let’s look at some of the less common words that might be really useful when you have health problems.

Doctors and sections of the hospital

There are many special kinds of doctors, so it helps to know the English words for these. And if you ever visit the hospital, you may need to know what the different places in the hospital are called. The table below covers some of the medical terms you will likely encounter. (Note that some of these terms will vary in different English-speaking countries. The ones given are common in the United States.)

Clinical measurements

When someone visits the doctor, the first thing the doctor does is to check if the patient’s numbers are all right. These numbers are the measurements of essential body functions (called vital signs). They help to give a picture of the general state of a patient.

Something doesn’t feel right

If you are sick, it means that your body is not doing what it should, or that it’s doing something that it shouldn’t. Most diseases come down to a handful of symptoms, which are the physical signs that something is not working properly in your body. Let’s see what these are.

Let’s do some tests

Sometimes doctors order tests to confirm what is wrong with a patient. These tests can include drawing a blood sample or taking a picture of the patient’s organs. The table below covers some of the common lab tests a doctor might order.

What’s the problem?

Once the test results are in and the doctor has taken a long thoughtful look at them, he or she will be able to draw a conclusion about what is wrong. The list below includes some of the most common medical conditions and illnesses. Knowing the name of a disease is the first step to getting better, so let’s have a look at these common conditions and what they mean.

I slipped, I fell and then…

Sometimes a health problem is not really mysterious but is the clear consequence of an accident. Everything that happens to the body after a fall, a crash or an accident of any kind has a name, and often there is both a common term used by ordinary people and a medical term used by professionals. It’s important to understand these words in order to have a clear idea of what happened to your body.

Time to get better

Once we know what the problem is, it’s time to get better! Doctors will prescribe a medicine or treatment to help us get well again. Don’t forget to take your medicine, eat and rest, and all will be well soon! To make sure that you follow the doctor’s instructions, here are the words you might need someday (but hopefully not!).

Wrapping up

In this guide we have covered a wide range of essential English medical terms to help you feel more at ease when talking with healthcare professionals. Knowing these words can make doctor visits less scary and will help you communicate your needs in a smooth, effortless way.

Whether you need to explain your symptoms, use hospital lingo, or know the names of common treatments, learning this medical vocabulary will give you confidence and clarity the next time you need to talk about your medical needs. Now that you know everything you need to be sick, let’s hope you’ll never have to use it!