Hyperoxaemia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An abnormally high concentration of oxygen dissolved in the arterial blood, typically resulting from breathing air or oxygen-enriched gas at high pressure
2. A pathological state in which the level of oxygen in the bloodstream exceeds normal physiological ranges, often induced by prolonged exposure to elevated oxygen levels
3. A condition characterized by an excess of oxygen in the blood plasma, commonly observed in patients receiving supplemental oxygen therapy or in high-pressure oxygen environments

Etymology: Hyperoxaemia is a medical coinage, not an ancient term, and its parts are plain. The prefix "hyper-" comes from Greek "huper," meaning "over" or "beyond," and "oxaemia" is a modern scientific formation built on "oxygen" and the Greek "haima," meaning "blood," with the "-aemia" ending used in medicine for a condition of the blood. Together they describe an excess of oxygen in the blood. The word was built by medical writers in the twentieth century, when clinicians needed precise terms for abnormal gas levels in the blood, and it sits alongside older clinical words such as "hypoxaemia," its counterpart meaning too little oxygen. Because the two were formed on the same pattern, the pairing makes the opposite condition easy to read at a glance: "hypo-" means under, and "hyper-" means over.

Synonyms: hyperoxemia

Antonyms: hypoxemia