Medical dictionary

Specialized dictionary covering medicine terms

For this functionality on Wikipedia, see Glossary of medicine.

Definition page from Amy Pope's 'A medical dictionary for nurses' (1914)

A medical dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. The four major medical dictionaries in the United States are Mosby's Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions, Stedman's, Taber's, and Dorland's. Other significant medical dictionaries are distributed by Elsevier. Dictionaries often have multiple versions, with content adapted for different user groups. For example Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary and Dorland's are for general use and allied health care, while the full text editions are reference works used by medical students, doctors, and health professionals. Medical dictionaries are commonly available in print, online, or as downloadable software packages for personal computers and smartphones.

History

A page from Robert James's A Medicinal Dictionary; London, 1743-45

An illustration from Appleton's Medical Dictionary; edited by S. E. Jelliffe (1916)

The earliest known glossaries of medical terms were discovered on Egyptian papyrus authored around 1600 B.C.<ref>HE,

 A History of Medicine. I. Primitive and Archaic Medicine, 
  
 New York:Oxford University Press, 
 1950, 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 Pages: 298-318,</ref> Other precursors to modern medical dictionaries include lists of terms compiled from the Hippocratic Corpus in the first century AD.<ref>Craik, Elizabeth, 
 The Lexicographer Erotian as a Guide to the Hippocratic Corpus, 
 JASCA (Japan Studies in Classical Antiquity), 
 
 Vol. 3,
 pp. 3-16,
 
 
 
 
 Full text,</ref><ref name=":0">Ambrose, Charles, 
 A Short History of Medical Dictionaries, 
 The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha-Honor Medical Society, 
 
 Vol. 68(Issue: 2),
 pp. 24–27,
 
 
 
 
 Full text,</ref>

The Synonyma Simonis Genuensis (the Synonyms of Simon of Genoa), attributed to the physician to Pope Nicholas IV in the year 1288, was printed by Antonius Zarotus at Milan in 1473. Referring to a copy held in the library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Henry wrote in 1905 that "It is the first edition of the first medical dictionary."<ref>Henry FP,

 A Review of the First Book on the Diseases of the Eye, by Benvenutus Grassus, 1474: Exhibition of Three Other Fifteenth Century Monographs (a) The First Medical Dictionary, Synonyma Simonis Genuensis, 1473; (b) The First Book on Diet, By Isaac, 1487, (c) The Second Edition of The First Book on Diseases of Children, By Paulus Bagellardus, 1487., 
 Med Library Hist J., 
 
 Vol. 3(Issue: 1),
 pp. 27–40,
 
 PMID: 18340862,
 PMC: 1692319,</ref> However, this claim is disputed as the composition only included lists of herbs and drugs.<ref name=":0" /> By the time of Antonio Guaineri (died in 1440<ref>Luke DeMaitre Template:Google books</ref>) and Savonarola, this work was used alongside others by Oribasius, Isidore of Seville, Mondino dei Liuzzi, Serapion, and Pietro d'Abano. Then, as now, writers struggled with the terminology used in various translations from earlier Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic works. Later works by Jacques Desparts and Jacopo Berengario da Carpi continued building on the Synonyma.<ref>Danielle Jacquart, 
 Theory, everyday practice, and three fifteenth-century physicians, 
 Osiris, 
 1990,
 Vol. 6,
 pp. 140–160,
 DOI: 10.1086/368698,</ref><ref>{{{last}}}, 
 Jacobi Partibus, 
  
 Summula per alphabetum super plurimis remediis et ipsius. online version, 
  
  
 1500,</ref>

Definitions

In medical dictionaries, definitions should to the greatest extent possible be:

• Simple and easy to understand,<ref name=McPherson1998>,

 A new definition of children with special health care needs, 
 Pediatrics, 
 1998,
 Vol. 102(Issue: 1 Pt 1),
 pp. 137–140,
 DOI: 10.1542/peds.102.1.137,
 PMID: 9714637,</ref> preferably even by the general public<ref name=Morse1992>, 
 The Definition of Alcoholism, 
 JAMA, 
 1992,
 Vol. 268(Issue: 8),
 pp. 1012–1014,
 DOI: 10.1001/jama.1992.03490080086030,
 PMID: 1501306,</ref>

• Useful clinically<ref name=Morse1992/> or in related areas where the definition will be used.<ref name=McPherson1998/>
• Specific,<ref name=McPherson1998/> that is, by reading the definition only, it should ideally not be possible to refer to any other entity than the one being defined.
• Measurable<ref name=McPherson1998/>
• Reflecting current scientific knowledge<ref name=McPherson1998/><ref name=Morse1992/>

See also

• Acronyms in healthcare
• Medical classification
• Medical terminology

External links

• Directory of Medical Dictionaries on Curlie
• Directory of Medical Dictionaries on OpenMD
• Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary
• TheFreeDictionary: Medical Dictionary
• Android Medical Dictionaries on Google Play
• iOS Medical Dictionaries on Apple App Store