· 50 lists · 1697 words
Health and the body
What is said when your own body is at stake.
What holds these lists together
These lists follow one path through many stops: the pharmacy counter, the dentist’s chair, the ambulance, the lab form, the specialist ward. Most of their words are built from Latin and look deceptively easy to an English speaker, who shares the roots. The best-known trap is also the most ordinary: estou constipado means «I have a cold», and constipation is a prisão de ventre. A tala is a splint and a zaragatoa a swab, words with no English cousin to lean on. What connects the lists is the situation you meet them in: usually for the first time, when you yourself are affected and in no state to ask twice.
The 50 lists
C1At the pharmacyActive ingredient, dosage form, half-life, adherence — and what goes over the counter without a prescription.40 wordsC1At the dentistDecay, root, crown, splint — and the estimate you understand before you agree.40 wordsC1OphthalmologyShort-sighted, long-sighted, dioptre, retina — and who does what.40 wordsC1PhysiotherapyStrain, disc, mobility, strengthening: the language of the practice and of the prescription.40 wordsC1Emergency medical servicesEmergency call, cardiac arrest, bleeding, positioning: and the order in which things are done.40 wordsC1Laboratory medicineBlood count, reference range, culture, report — the sheet you hold in your hand in front of the doctor.40 wordsB1At the doctor and at the chemistSaying what hurts — and understanding what you are meant to do about it.34 wordsB1Emergencies and safetyThe words for the day something goes wrong.32 wordsB1Falling ill and getting betterFrom the first sign to being fit for work again.44 wordsB1Health and medicineDescribing symptoms, understanding reports, making appointments.31 wordsB2Old age and careThe words nobody learns before they need them.33 wordsB2The hospital and the diagnosisWhat is said in hospital, and what it means.59 wordsC1Birth and MidwiferyFrom the first antenatal appointment to the early weeks, in the words that are actually used on the ward.40 wordsC1Veterinary medicineA history with no words, a herd instead of a person, an owner instead of a patient.40 wordsC2Immune system and infectionDefence, vaccination, outbreak — and what one figure actually means.39 wordsC2Psychiatry and the clinical findingsDescribing before interpreting — the words of a mental state report.28 wordsC2EndocrinologyMessengers, feedback loops, and what happens when one of them tips over.35 wordsC2Hospital hygieneThe infections that begin inside the building itself.34 wordsC2RadiologyWhat an image shows, what it does not, and who decides that.35 wordsC2GeriatricsThe branch of medicine where the diagnosis almost never comes alone.21 wordsC2DermatologyThe organ you look at before you ask it anything.35 wordsC2Cosmetic chemistryWhat is in a cream, and what the law has to say about it.24 wordsC2Medicines and trialsActive substance, therapeutic window, the state of the trials — and what a number really says.58 wordsC2OncologyFindings, stage, treatment, course — and how they are spoken about.42 wordsC2GastroenterologyNine metres of tubing, and hardly a speciality that does not earn from it.36 wordsC2ToxicologyThe dose, the way in and the way out again.25 wordsC2VaccinesHow an immune response is planned, tested and authorised.22 wordsC2RheumatologyJoints, vessels, connective tissue — and the time that decides everything.34 wordsC2Transplant medicineOne organ, two people and a very narrow window of time.22 wordsC2MicrobiologyCulture, resistance, biofilm — life below the threshold of sight.42 wordsC2Respiratory medicineThe lung, measured rather than described.34 wordsC2History of medicineHow an art turned into a discipline.25 wordsC2Ear, nose and throat medicineThree organs joined by the same spaces.29 wordsC2Infectious diseasesPathogens, defences, and the question of when to give nothing.22 wordsC2AnaesthesiaThe hours in which somebody else takes over the breathing.34 wordsC2HaematologyBlood, read as a report on the whole body.29 wordsC2Intensive care medicineWhere organs are replaced and decisions cannot wait.34 wordsC2Doping controlA procedure that looks more like a court case than like sport.26 wordsC2The nervous system and neurologyFrom the nerve cell to the report and on to rehabilitation.43 wordsC2Palliative medicineWhen cure is no longer the aim — and what counts instead.37 wordsC2NephrologyTwo organs that work in silence until almost nothing is left.34 wordsC2Orthopaedics and trauma surgeryBones, joints, and what makes them load-bearing again.19 wordsC2Addiction medicineA field that works with terms instead of verdicts.23 wordsC2Sleep medicineA third of a life that is only noticed once it goes wrong.35 wordsC2RadiotherapyA dose that lands where it should, and one that does not reach what is next to it.32 wordsC2Speech and language therapySpeaking, voice and swallowing once they become the thing being treated.26 wordsC2CardiologyRhythm, valves, coronary arteries — and what the trace shows.40 wordsC2Occupational therapyTreatment that starts from everyday life instead of from the findings.23 wordsC2EpidemiologyFrequency, risk, bias — and what a cause means.40 wordsC2UrologyA speciality between internal medicine and surgery.27 words
Spread across the levels
The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.
| Level | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A2 | 1 | 0 % |
| B1 | 124 | 7 % |
| B2 | 108 | 6 % |
| C1 | 320 | 19 % |
| C2 | 1144 | 67 % |
Practise this category
Multiple choice and gaps, across all 50 lists and all 1697 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.