Surgeries

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collection of medical interventions designed to treat or cure ailments or injuries
2. A set of procedures where health practitioners perform operations to alleviate medical conditions or improve well-being
3. Medical procedures conducted by healthcare professionals to correct or manage health issues ; facilities where patients receive consultations and medical treatment from doctors

Etymology: The plural "surgeries" is simply the plural of "surgery," so the story is really the story of its root: a Greek phrase for working with the hands. In ancient Greek, "kheirourgia" was built from "kheir," meaning "hand," and "ergon," meaning "work." Latin borrowed it as "chirurgia," and the Greek sense of manual work carried into the medical field, where operating on the body was done by hand. The word reached English through Old French "surgerie," and Middle English "surgerie" appeared as an alternative to the older form "chirurgy," which entered English from the same Latin source. The two words are doublets, both descending from one Greek original, but "surgery" arrived by the French route and gradually became the common everyday term.

Synonyms: operations, procedures, interventions, treatments, incisions