stethoscope
/sˈteθəsˌkəʊp/STEH-thuh-skohp
/sˈtɛθəsˌkoʊp/STEH-thuh-skohp
Meaningchest viewer
Common meaning: a doctor's listening device
- steththe chestLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 1429 · scan
- scopto look at closely, watchLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 1402 · scan
‘the chest’ + ‘to look at closely, watch’ → stethoscope
Journey through time
- steth — Greek στῆθος “the chest” (path traced)
- scop — Greek σκοπέω “to look at closely, watch” (path traced)
- Greekστῆθος + σκοπέω‘the chest + to look at closely, watch’
- Englishstethoscope‘a doctor's listening device’ · today
scop also in: periscopemicroscopicmicroscopically
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Greek στῆθος ‘the chest’ + Greek σκοπέω ‘to look at closely, watch’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), entry σκοπέω, p. 1402 · dictionary scan
Roots
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app