Lancets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, sharp surgical instrument used for making incisions or drawing blood from the skin surface
2. A type of medical tool with a pointed blade, commonly employed in procedures requiring precise cuts or punctures
3. An implement with a sharp point, often utilized in phlebotomy or for minor surgical tasks involving the skin

Etymology: "Lancets" is the plural of "lancet", a small, sharp surgical knife. The singular came into Middle English as "launcet", borrowed from Old French "lancete", a diminutive of "lance". So the instrument is named for being a little spear: the French suffix "-ete" shrinks the original "lance" into something smaller and more delicate, a shape that a surgeon's blade resembles far more than a weapon does. The word traces back to the Latin "lancea", the spear, which passed into Old French as "lance" and kept the military sense of a long shafted weapon. English speakers had the lance as a knight's weapon long before any surgeon picked up a blade, so the diminutive form carries the joke of shrinking a battle weapon down to a scalpel-sized point.

Synonyms: scalpels, surgical blades