Rales

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An unusual sound produced during inhalation or exhalation, often indicative of fluid accumulation in the lung spaces
2. Sounds heard in the lungs that suggest the presence of fluid or other abnormalities during breathing
3. Uncommon noises from the respiratory tract indicating possible congestion or infection

Etymology: "Rales" is the plural of "rale", a term for the abnormal crackling or bubbling sounds a doctor hears through a stethoscope when fluid or mucus is in the lungs. The singular comes from French "râle", meaning "groan" or "death rattle". The French word is itself a form of the verb "râler", to groan or rasp, and the sound it names is the wet, rough breathing of someone whose lungs are struggling. The English word thus carries a grim sense in its French ancestry: the same rasping noun once described the final breathing of the dying. In English medicine it was narrowed to a clinical, more neutral term for sounds that can be heard in many conditions, not only the terminal ones. The original imagery of a laboured groan remains audible in the word's sound.