Sputum

Definition: Sputum

Sputum

Noun

1. Expectorated matter; saliva mixed with discharges from the respiratory passages; in ancient and medieval physiology it was believed to cause sluggishness.

Date "sputum" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

Etymology: Sputum \Spu"tum\, noun; plural Sputa. [Latin expression, from spuere, sputum, to spit.]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definition
Health	Material coughed up from the lungs and expectorated via the mouth. It contains mucus, cellular debris, and microorganisms. It may also contain blood or pus. (references)
Medicine	The material expelled from the respiratory passages by coughing or clearing the throat. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

A sputum sample is the name given to the mucus that is coughed up from the lungs. In is usually used for microbiological investigations of respiratory infections.

The best sputum samples contain very little saliva, as this contaminates the sample with oral bacteria.

When a sputum specimen is plated out, it is best to get the portion of the sample that most looks like pus onto the swab. If there is any blood in the sputum, this should also be on the swab.

Microbiological sputum samples are usually used to look for infections by Branhamella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. Other pathogens can also be found.

Synonym: Sputum

Synonym: phlegm (n). (additional references)

Crosswords: Sputum

English words defined with "sputum": chronic bronchitis, coccidioidomycosis, coccidiomycosis, cough out, cough up ♦ desert rheumatism ♦ expectorate ♦ ptyalize ♦ spew, spit, spit out, spit up, spue, Sputa ♦ tubercle bacillus ♦ valley fever. (references)

Specialty definitions using "sputum": Citrobacter freundii ♦ high-altitude pulmonary edema ♦ Mycobacterium chelonae ♦ NURSE, LICENSED PRACTICAL ♦ Onchocerca ♦ Spengler fragments, Sputumize. (references)

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

Danish (sputum), Dutch (sputum), German (sputum), Serbo-Croatian (sputum).

Domain	Title
Books	An Atlas of Sputum Cytology (reference) Colour Atlas of Sputum Cytology (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Dr. Oren is examining a child with respiratory paralysis. A suction machine is used in conjunction with a tracheostomy tube to help in suctioning sputum build-up from the lungs. Credit: CDC.		Positive indirect FA test for L. pneumophila in the sputum of a patient with Legionnaire's disease. Credit: CDC.
	F. tularensis, Direct Fluorescent Antibody Stain (DFA); confirmation may be performed directly in tissue, sputum or culture. Credit: CDC.		During the flu outbreak of 1918 H. influenzae was termed Pfeiffer's Bacillus, where it was found in the sputum of many influenza patients, and thought to be the cause of influenza. Credit: CDC.
	Sputum smear from patient with pulmonary candidiasis. Gram stain. Credit: CDC.		This bacterium can attack any part of the body, though usually the lungs, causing Tuberculosis, and is spread through inhalation of infected sputum from a coughing or sneezing individual. Credit: CDC.
	[Microscopy: Sputum specimen, showing tubercle bacilli and red corpuscles]. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Hemoptysis-Coughing up blood or blood-stained sputum. (references)
		Then a chronic cough develops with clear, colorless sputum. (references)
		Coughing up blood-stained sputum or blood (hemoptysis) occurs less frequently. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Sputum" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Sputum" is used about 66 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)	100%	66	41,290

Expression using "sputum": sputum smear. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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.

Language		Translations for "sputum"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		pështymë (saliva, spit, spittle), gëlbazë (expectoration, phlegm). (various references)

Arabic		‏نخامة (expectoration), ‏تنخم (expectorate, expectoration, hawk), ‏بصاق (spit). (various references)

Bulgarian		слюнка (foam, saliva, slaver, slobber), храчка (expectoration, gob, spit, spittle), плюнка (expectoration, saliva, spit, spittle). (various references)

Czech		chrchel (gob, spittle). (various references)

Danish		sputum. (various references)

Dutch		sputum. (various references)

Farsi		تف (Spit, Spittle), خلطسینه , بزاق (Saliva, Slobber, Spit). (various references)

Finnish		sylki (expectoration, saliva, spittle), yskös (expectoration). (various references)

French		sputum (m), expectorations, expectoration, crachats, crachat (spit, spittle). (various references)

German		Sputum. (various references)

Greek		πτύσμα (spit, spittle), πτύελο (spittle). (various references)

Hebrew		לח�" (fluid, humidity, humour, moisture, phlegm, pus). (various references)

Hungarian		köpet (expectoration, gob, spit, spittle). (various references)

Indonesian		dahak (phlegm). (various references)

Italian		sputo (gob, spit, spittle). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		喀痰 (expectoration), �"�液 (saliva), �"� (saliva, spit). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		つば (brim, saliva, spit, sword guard), かくた�" (expectoration), � えき (saliva). (various references)

Manx		shelley (expectorate, expectoration, phlegm, saliva, slaver, spit, spittle). (various references)

Pig Latin		utumspay

Portuguese		expectoração (expectoration, gob). (various references)

Romanian		sputã (saliva), flegmã (expectoration, phlegm). (various references)

Russian		экспекторация (expectoration), слюна (saliva, slaver, spittle), мокрота (expectoration, phlegm, soddenness). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		sputum, ispljuvak (spit). (various references)

Spanish		esputo (mucus, phlegm, spit). (various references)

Thai		เสมหะ. (various references)

Turkish		salya (dribble, saliva, salivary, slaver, slobber, spit, spittle), tükürük (gob, saliva, salivary, spit, spittle), balgam (expectoration, indifference, mucus, phlegm, pituitary). (various references)

Ukrainian		слина (drivel, saliva, slaver, slobber, spittle, water), мокротиння (phlegm, spit). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings
	"Sputum" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: scutums, spetum, speum, spewtum, spuctum, sputem, sputo. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Words rhyming with "sputum" (pronounced 'Spu"tum'): Aconitum, Adiantum, Amentum, Arboretum, Datum, Fretum, frustum, mentum, Mesonotum, Mesorectum, Mesoscutum, Metanotum, momentum, Multum, Notum, Oblatum, Omentum, Petrolatum, Pilentum, Pinetum, Plebiscitum, Postfactum, Postulatum, Prescutum, Prolatum, Pronotum, Punctum, Quantum, Quotum, rectum, sanctum, Sarcoseptum, scrotum, Scutum, septum, stratum, Striatum, Submentum, substratum, tomentum, ultimatum, Uncinatum. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "m-p-s-t-u-u"
	-1 letter: stump, tumps.
	-2 letters: must, muts, puts, smut, stum, sump, tump, tups, umps.
	-3 letters: mus, mut, pus, put, sum, sup, tup, ump, ups, uts.
	-4 letters: mu, um, up, us, ut.
	Words containing the letters "m-p-s-t-u-u"
	+2 letters: jumpsuit, outjumps.
	+3 letters: bumptious, impetuous, jumpsuits, outtrumps, sumptuary, sumptuous.
	+4 letters: neptuniums, plutoniums, posthumous, suboptimum.
	+5 letters: bumptiously, impetuously, multicampus, multiparous, scrumptious, submultiple, subsumption, sumptuously, tempestuous.
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.

Expression	Frequency per Day
sputum	45
blood in sputum	12
bloody sputum	8
brown sputum	6
green sputum	6
sputum culture	5
sputum test	4
sputum yellow	4
sputum gram stain	3
purulent sputum	2
sputum white	2
mug sputum	2
color sputum	2
blood sputum streaked	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Sputum

Definition: Sputum

Sputum

Noun

Specialty Definition: Sputum

Specialty Definition: Sputum

Synonym: Sputum

Crosswords: Sputum

Commercial Usage: Sputum

Books

Photo Album: Sputum

Non-Fiction Usage: Sputum

Usage Frequency: Sputum

Expression: Sputum

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Sputum

Modern Translation: Sputum

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Thai

Turkish

Ukrainian

Misspellings: Sputum

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Sputum"

Anagrams: Sputum

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

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