Catheterize

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈkæθətəɹaɪz/

Definitions

1. To introduce a slender tube into a bodily conduit permits the extraction or infusion of fluids for therapeutic intervention
2. Placing a thin flexible instrument into a patient's anatomical channel allows for fluid management or medication delivery
3. To pass a flexible tube through a body passage to drain or inject fluids

Etymology: The word is a straightforward combination: "catheter" with the verb-forming suffix "-ize." The catheter itself is much older than the verb. It comes from Greek "kathetēr," meaning something lowered or inserted, built from "kathienai," to send down. Medical instruments of this kind were known for centuries before anyone needed a verb for the act of inserting one. The suffix has a longer pedigree than its modern look suggests. It descends from the Ancient Greek ending "-izein," which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in a certain way." It passed into Latin as "-izare," then into Middle French as "-iser," and reached English through Middle English, where it became the productive "-ize" that medical writers could attach to almost any noun. Because "catheterize" is built from an existing English noun plus this suffix, it reads as a plain technical coinage rather than a word with a dramatic backstory. Its meaning follows directly from the parts: to put a catheter into a body passage in order to drain or inject fluid.

Synonyms: insert catheter, cannulate