Word Of The Day

Dorland's Word of the Day is a great way to broaden your knowledge of medical terminology. With a new and interesting term brought to you from the 32nd edition of Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary each day, it's an easy and fun way to increase your medical vocabulary!

You can view a new word on this website each day.

Today's Word

umbilicoplasty

a plastic surgical operation on the umbilicus.

Word of the Day Archive

ghrelin

a peptide hormone related to motilin, expressed primarily by the stomach and secondarily by the small intestine and colon and possibly other tissues. It is a growth hormone secretagogue; stimulates the sensation of hunger and regulates energy balance and glucose homeostasis; and has regulatory functions in the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and immune systems.

NSAID ulcer

a peptic ulcer occurring as a side effect of therapy with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), usually either a gastric ulcer or a duodenal ulcer.

fragile site

a nonstaining gap in the chromatin of a metaphase chromosome, usually in both chromatids, and inherited in a mendelian fashion; the chromosome is easily breakable at this site. In cultured human cells, fragile sites are expressed under conditions of folate or thymidine deprivation or in the presence of methotrexate.

Elizabethkingia meningoseptica

a pathogenic bacterial species that is a major cause of nosocomial infections, producing meningitis and septicemia with a high fatality rate in premature and newborn infants. In adults, it causes a milder bacteremia. Formerly called Flavobacterium meningosepticum.

pleuropericardial folds

a pair of small ridges that originate along the lateral body walls in the fifth week of embryonic development and project into the cranial ends of the pericardioperitoneal canals to divide the pleural cavities from the pericardial cavity; they later develop into the pleuropericardial membranes.

nuclear pore complex

a nuclear pore and its associated glycoproteins, which regulates transport between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. It has a diameter of approximately 80–100 nm and is composed of three stacked, octagonally symmetric, ringlike arrays of proteins (the cytoplasmic, middle, and nucleoplasmic rings), cytoplasmic fibers, a transporter, and a nuclear basket.

crochetage

a notch, as seen on an electrocardiogram.