Bronchoscopes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An instrument used to visualize the interior of the airways and lungs through the bronchial passages
2. A flexible or rigid tube equipped with a light and camera, utilized for examining respiratory tracts
3. A medical device for inspecting the bronchial tubes, facilitating diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary conditions

Etymology: The instrument is named for the bronchi, the branching airways of the lungs, which take their name from a Greek word for the windpipe. Ancient Greek "brónkhos" meant the windpipe or throat, and it was adopted into English medical vocabulary in its combining form "broncho-", so the word's first half is simply a bit of Greek anatomy kept alive in clinical Latin and English. The second half comes from "-scope", a suffix built from Greek "skopein", "to look at" or "to examine." It is the same element found in "telescope" and "microscope," and the Greek root behind it, "skopos," meant "watcher" or "one who looks out." A bronchoscope is therefore, literally, an instrument for looking into the windpipe and its branches. Because "bronchoscope" is formed by joining these two Greek-derived pieces, the word is a modern coinage built from classical parts rather than a term the ancient Greeks themselves used for such a device. The plural "bronchoscopes" simply adds the regular English "-s" to form the plural of the noun.

Synonyms: endoscopes, instruments, devices, tools, scopes