Scalpel

Definition: Scalpel

Scalpel

Noun

1. A thin straight surgical knife used in dissection and surgery.

Date "scalpel" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1856. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Scalpel

Domain	Definitions
Medicine	A small pointed knife with a convex edge. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Scalpel

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A scalpel is a very sharp knife used for surgery as well as various arts and crafts.

Scalpels can have a fixed blade, or a disposable blade. The blades on scalpels are extremely sharp, merely touching a medical scalpel with bare hands to test it, will cut through the skin.

Graphical and model-making scalpels tend to have round handles, with a lot of grip. The blade is usually flat and straight, allowing it to be run easily against a straightedge to produce straight lines.

The handles of medical and dissection scalpels are flatter, more like a bread knife. They do not have the same level of grip as art scalpels, as this would make cleaning and sterilisation more difficult. The grip in medical scalpels is usually just a slight corrugation.

Medical scalpel blades are gradually curved for greater precision when cutting through tissue.

There are different ways of gripping and using a medical scalpel:

Pencil grip
Fingertip grip
Palm grip

Ancient Egyptians used a sharp blade of a papyrus reed as an equivalent to a scalpel. Ayurveda mentions the use of sharp bamboo splinters.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Scalpel."

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Synonyms within Context: Scalpel

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Sharpness	Wedge; knife edge, cutting edge; blade, edge tool, cutlery, knife, penknife, whittle, razor, razor blade, safety razor, straight razor, electric razor; scalpel; bistoury, lancet; plowshare, coulter, colter; hatchet, ax, pickax, mattock, pick, adze, gill; billhook, cleaver, cutter; scythe, sickle; scissors, shears, pruning shears, cutters, wire cutters, nail clipper, paper cutter; sword; (arms); bodkin; (perforator); belduque, bowie knife, paring knife; bushwhacker; drawing knife, drawing shave; microtome; chisel, screwdriver blade; flint blade; guillotine.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Scalpel

Specialty definitions using "scalpel": MOHEL, mold maker ♦ ritual circumciser, RUBBER-MOLD MAKER ♦ Sharps. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Scalpel" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

French (scalpel), Romanian (scalpel).

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Modern Usage: Scalpel

Domain

Usage

Screenplays

Well, I was going to leave his scalpel, but I didn't want to include any deadly weapons. (M*A*S*H; writing credit: Larry Gelbart)

You tied me to an operating table, forced Uncle Ernesto to go at my throat with a scalpel. That was funny. (Penn & Teller Get Killed; writing credit: Penn Jillette; Teller)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Scalpel

Domain	Title
Books	The Aliens and the Scalpel : Scientific Proof of Extraterrestrial Implants in Humans (New Millennium Library, V. 6) (reference) The Scalpel and the Butterfly: The Conflict between Animal Research and Animal Protection (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Scalpel And Quill (reference) Scalpel And Tongs (reference) (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies	Scalpel (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Under the Scalpel Blade/One Da (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Scalpel

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Non-Fiction Usage: Scalpel

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Management modalities for HSIL are established and include colposcopy-directed biopsy and endocervical curettage followed by conization with scalpel, cautery, laser, or loop electrocautery excision procedure. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Scalpel

"Scalpel" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 95.40% of the time. "Scalpel" is used about 87 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	95.4%	83	36,350
Lexical Verb (base form)	2.3%	2	245,945
Noun (proper)	2.3%	2	245,945
Total	100.00%	87	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expression: Scalpel

Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "scalpel": scalpel-like, scalpel-probe, scalpel-sharp.
	Ending with "scalpel": comb-scalpel.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Scalpel

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
scalpel	51
cannondale scalpel	19
harmonic scalpel	19
scalpel blade	9
3000 cannondale scalpel	6
3000 scalpel	4
1000 cannondale scalpel	3
surgical scalpel	3
3000 price scalpel	3
scalpel and safari	3
2000 cannondale scalpel	3
scalpel handle	3
800 cannondale scalpel	3
safety scalpel	3
800 scalpel	2
1000 scalpel	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Scalpel

Language		Translations for "scalpel"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		bisturi (lance, lancet). (various references)

Arabic		‏مشرط (fleam, lance, lancet), ‏مبضع (bistoury, lancet). (various references)

Bulgarian		скалпел (knife). (various references)

Czech		skalpel. (various references)

Danish		skalpel (surgical knife), kirurgisk kniv (surgical knife). (various references)

Dutch		scalpellum (surgical knife), scalpel (surgical knife), ontleedmes (surgical knife), lancet (blood lancette, lancet, surgical knife), chirurgisch mes (surgical knife), bistouri (bistoury, surgical knife). (various references)

Farsi		پاره پاره کردن (Analyze, Tatter), چاقوی کوچک جراحی , چاقوی کالبدشکافی , باچاقوی جراحی بریدن . (various references)

French		scalpel. (various references)

German		Skalpell (surgical knife), Seziermesser (scalpels). (various references)

Greek		νυστέρι (blood lancette, lancet), χειρουργικό νυστέρι (surgical knife). (various references)

Hebrew		אזמל � תוחים. (various references)

Hungarian		szike (dissector, folding knife, lance, lancet). (various references)

Indonesian		pisau bedah. (various references)

Italian		scalpello (bistoury, chisel, cold chisel), bisturi (bistoury, lancet, surgical knife). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		メキシコ湾流 (blank plug, Gulf Stream, mage, major, major label, Major League, measure, measuring, Mekong delta, mesh, Messiah, surgical knife), 円刃刀 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		メス (surgical knife), え�"じ�"とう. (various references)

Manx		skynn chirpey, skynn annee. (various references)

Pig Latin		alpelscay

Portuguese		escalpelo, bisturi (bistoury, Catling, surgical knife). (various references)

Romanian		scalpel. (various references)

Russian		скальпель. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		skalpel. (various references)

Spanish		escalpelo. (various references)

Swedish		skalpell. (various references)

Turkish		skalpel, cerrah bıçağı. (various references)

Ukranian		скальпель (knife). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Scalpel

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	scalpello. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Scalpel

Derivations
	Words beginning with "scalpel": scalpels. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Scalpel" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Csepel, salel, scalpal, scalpe, scalpeled, scalple, Scalwell, scapel, scaple. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Scalpel"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "scalpel" (pronounced ska"lpul)
3	-p u l	ample, Appel, apple, archetypal, businesspeople, carpal, chapel, congresspeople, couple, craftspeople, cripple, crumple, decouple, dimple, disciple, episcopal, example, fipple, gospel, grapple, hopple, laypeople, maple, metacarpal, multiple, municipal, newspeople, nipple, oedipal, opal, papal, people, pimple, pineapple, Popple, principal, principle, pupil, purple, quadruple, quintuple, ripple, rumple, salespeople, sample, scruple, Semple, simple, spokespeople, staple, steeple, subprincipal, supple, temple, tipple, topple, townspeople, trample, triple, uncouple.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Scalpel

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-e-l-l-p-s"
	-1 letter: lapels, places.
	-2 letters: alecs, calls, capes, cella, cells, claps, clasp, laces, lapel, lapse, leaps, paces, pales, palls, peals, place, pleas, salep, scale, scall, scalp, scape, sepal, space, spale, spall, spell.
	-3 letters: aces, alec, ales, alls, alps, apes, apse, call, cape, caps, case, cell, cels, ceps, clap, ells, lace, lacs, laps, lase, leal, leap, leas, pace, pacs, pale, pall, pals, pase, peal, peas, pecs, plea, sale, sall, salp, seal, sell, slap, spae, spec.
	-4 letters: ace, ale, all, alp, als, ape, asp, cap, cel, cep, ell, els, lac, lap, las, lea, pac, pal, pas, pea, pec, pes, sac, sae, sal, sap, sea, sec, sel, spa.
	-5 letters: ae, al, as, el, es, la, pa, pe.
	Words containing the letters "a-c-e-l-l-p-s"
	+1 letter: allspice, collapse, escallop, scalpels.
	+2 letters: allspices, calliopes, callipees, callipers, collapsed, collapses, escallops, placeless, scalloped, scalloper, specially.
	+3 letters: escalloped, especially, leucoplast, pillowcase, placentals, scallopers, sepulchral, spancelled, spectrally, specularly.
	+4 letters: aseptically, capillaries, cellophanes, collapsible, ellipticals, episcopally, escalloping, eucalyptols, leucoplasts, nucleoplasm, paclitaxels, peccadillos, pillowcases, placelessly, plagioclase, precalculus, skeptically, spancelling, spherically.
	+5 letters: caterpillars, clapperclaws, culpableness, cupellations, despotically, displaceable, episodically, eucalyptoles, nucleoplasms, opalescently, peacefullest, peccadilloes, phylloclades, placeholders, plagioclases, plainclothes, polyvalences, sepulchrally, seraphically, specifically, superhelical.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.