Vocabulary Exam

Question 1

ascites

Answer 1

An abnormal accumulation of fluid within the abdomen.

Question 2

atrophy

Answer 2

Decrease in size or wasting away of a body part or tissue. Muscle atrophy is a decrease in muscle mass, often due to extended immobility.

Question 3

auricle

Answer 3

1a : pinna. b : an atrium of the heart. 2 : an angular or ear-shaped anatomical lobe or process (as an auricular appendage of the heart)

Question 4

blanch

Answer 4

to become white. 1 to cause to become pale, as a nailbed may be blanched by using digital pressure. 2 to press blood away and wait for return, such as blanching of fingernails and return of blood. 3 to become white or pale, as from vasoconstriction accompanying fear or anger.

Question 5

bruit

Answer 5

A sound heard over an artery or vascular channel, reflecting turbulence of flow. Most commonly, a bruit is caused by abnormal narrowing of an artery.

Question 6

cerumen

Answer 6

Ear wax: A natural wax-like substance secreted by special glands in the skin on the outer part of the ear canal. It repels water, and traps material such as dust and sand particles.

Question 7

colostrum

Answer 7

A sticky white or yellow fluid secreted by the breasts during the second half of pregnancy and for a few days after birth, before breast milk comes in. It is high in protective antibodies that boost the newborn’s immune system.

Question 8

conjunctiva

Answer 8

A thin, clear, moist membrane that coats the inner surfaces of the eyelids (palpebral conjunctiva) and the outer surface of the eye (ocular, or bulbar, conjunctiva)

Question 9

contracture

Answer 9

a permanent shortening (as of muscle, tendon, or scar tissue) producing deformity or distortion

Question 10

cornea

Answer 10

the transparent part of the coat of the eyeball that covers the iris and pupil and admits light to the interior.

Question 11

costal margin

Answer 11

The lower edge of the chest (thorax), formed by the bottom edge of the rib cage.

Question 12

crepitus/crepitation

Answer 12

a grating or crackling sound or sensation (as that produced by the fractured ends of a bone moving against each other or as that in tissues affected with gas gangrene) crepitation in the arthritic knee.

Question 13

diaphoresis

Answer 13

perspiration or sweating. The term usually refers to unusually heavy perspiration

Question 14

edema

Answer 14

The swelling of soft tissues as a result of excess fluid accumulation

Question 15

enuresis

Answer 15

involuntary urination, especially by children at night.

Question 16

erythema

Answer 16

abnormal redness of the skin or mucous membranes due to capillary congestion (as in inflammation)

Question 17

fissure

Answer 17

split or crack (something) to form a long, narrow opening.

fissure in the cerebral cortex is a normal feature. It is a deep fold that involves the entire thickness of the brain wall. A fissure in the anus is abnormal. It is a painful crack in the edge of the anus and is very painful. Also called an anal fissure or fissure in ano.

Question 18

fistula

Answer 18

An abnormal passageway in the body. The fistula may go from the body surface into a blind pouch or into an internal organ or go between two internal organs.

Question 19

flaccid

Answer 19

weak, soft, and flabby; lacking normal muscle tone

Question 20

fontanel

Answer 20

“soft spot” of the skull. The “soft spot” is soft precisely because the cartilage there has not yet hardened into bone between the skull bones.

Question 21

frenulum

Answer 21

a small fold of integument or mucous membrane that limits the movements of an organ or part. For example, the lingual frenulum attaches the tongue to the floor of the mouth and appears to restrain it.

Question 22

heave

Answer 22

lift or upward push on your hand when you palpate the precordium

Question 23

ischemia

Answer 23

deficient supply of blood to a body part (as the heart or brain) that is due to obstruction of the inflow of arterial blood (as by the narrowing of arteries by spasm or disease)

Question 24

jaundice

Answer 24

Yellow staining of the skin and sclerae (the whites of the eyes) by abnormally high blood levels of the bile pigment bilirubin

Question 25

kyphosis

Answer 25

is an exaggerated curvature of the upper (thoracic) spine that creates a hunchback appearance

Question 26

lacrimal apparatus

Answer 26

the bodily parts which function in the production of tears including the lacrimal glands, lacrimal ducts, lacrimal sacs, nasolacrimal ducts, and lacrimal puncta.

Question 27

lanugo

Answer 27

Downy hair on the body of a fetus or newborn baby. Lanugo is the first hair to be produced by the fetal hair follicles, and it usually appears on the fetus at about 5 months of gestation. Lanugo is very fine, soft, and usually unpigmented.

Question 28

linea nigra

Answer 28

is the dark line that develops across your belly

Question 29

lordosis

Answer 29

is an increased inward curving of the lumbar spine

Question 30

mediastinum

Answer 30

The area between the lungs. The organs in the mediastinum include the heart and its large veins and arteries, the trachea, the esophagus, the bronchi, and lymph nodes.

Question 31

myocardium

Answer 31

The heart muscle.

Question 32

normocephalic

Answer 32

a person whose head and all major organs of the head are in a normal condition and without significant abnormalities.

Question 33

nystagmus

Answer 33

Rapid, rhythmic, repetitious, and involuntary eye movements. Nystagmus can be horizontal, vertical, or rotary. Whatever form it takes, nystagmus is an abnormal eye finding and a sign of disease within the eye or the nervous system.

Question 34

orthopnea

Answer 34

difficulty in breathing that occurs when lying down and is relieved upon changing to an upright position

Question 35

pallor

Answer 35

Paleness, also known as pale complexion or pallor, is an unusual lightness of skin color compared with your normal complexion. Paleness may be caused by reduced blood flow and oxygen or by a decreased number of red blood cells.

Question 36

palpebral fissure

Answer 36

the space between the margins of the eyelids

Question 37

papilledema

Answer 37

Swelling of the head of the optic nerve, a sign of increased intracranial pressure.

Question 38

paralysis

Answer 38

Loss of voluntary movement

Question 39

paresis

Answer 39

a condition of muscular weakness caused by nerve damage or disease; partial paralysis.

Question 40

paresthesia

Answer 40

a sensation of pricking, tingling, or creeping on the skin having no objective cause and usually associated with injury or irritation of a sensory nerve or nerve root.

Question 41

periorbital edema

Answer 41

swelling around the eyes

Question 42

photophobia

Answer 42

intolerance to light especially : painful sensitiveness to strong light

Question 43

physiologic jaundice

Answer 43

Yellowish staining of the skin and whites of the newborn's eyes (sclerae) by pigment of bile (bilirubin)

Question 44

pinna

Answer 44

The ear or, to be more precise, the part of the ear that projects like a little wing from the head.

Question 45

precordium

Answer 45

the part of the ventral surface of the body overlying the heart and stomach and comprising the epigastrium and the lower median part of the thorax.

Question 46

presbyopia

Answer 46

a visual condition which becomes apparent especially in middle age and in which loss of elasticity of the lens of the eye causes defective accommodation and inability to focus sharply for near vision

Question 47

ptosis

Answer 47

drooping upper eyelid

Question 48

rugae

Answer 48

an anatomical fold or wrinkle especially of the viscera —usually used in plural the rugae of an empty stomach

Question 49

scale

Answer 49

A thin piece of the outermost layer of skin resembling a fish scale. They represent a heaping up of the outermost layer of the skin (the stratum corneum) and can be due to a variety of skin conditions, most frequently excessive dryness.

Question 50

schaphoid

Answer 50

a large carpal bone articulating with the radius below the thumb.

Question 51

sclera

Answer 51

the dense fibrous opaque white outer coat enclosing the eyeball except the part covered by the cornea

Question 52

septum

Answer 52

a dividing wall or membrane especially between bodily spaces or masses of soft tissue: as. a : nasal septum

Question 53

sphincter

Answer 53

an annular muscle surrounding and able to contract or close a bodily opening — see anal sphincter, cardiac sphincter, precapillary sphincter, pyloric sphincter.

Question 54

strabismus

Answer 54

more commonly known as cross-eyed or wall-eyed, is a vision condition in which a person can not align both eyes simultaneously under normal conditions. One or both of the eyes may turn in, out, up or down.

Question 55

striae gravidarum

Answer 55

stretch marks

Question 56

syncope

Answer 56

Fainting, or syncope, refers to a sudden and temporary loss of consciousness, usually because of a lack of oxygen in the brain.

Question 57

tachypnea

Answer 57

abnormally rapid breathing

Question 58

tactile fremitus

Answer 58

assessment of the lungs by either the vibration intensity felt on the chest wall (tactile fremitus) and/or heard by a stethoscope on the chest wall with certain spoken words (vocal fremitus), although there are several other types.

Question 59

thrill

Answer 59

A thrill is a vibratory sensation felt on the skin overlying an area of turbulence and indicates a loud heart murmur usually caused by an incompetent heart valve.

Question 60

tinnitus

Answer 60

a sensation of noise (as a ringing or roaring) that is caused by a bodily condition (as a disturbance of the auditory nerve or wax in the ear) and typically is of the subjective form which can only be heard by the one affected.

Question 61

uvula

Answer 61

The anatomic structure that dangles downward at the back of the mouth and is attached to the rear of the soft palate.

Question 62

vernix caseosa

Answer 62

A white cheesy substance that covers and protects the skin of the fetus and is still all over the skin of a baby at birth.

Question 63

vertigo

Answer 63

a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height, or caused by disease affecting the inner ear or the vestibular nerve;

Question 64

vesicle

Answer 64

a membranous and usually fluid-filled pouch (such as a cyst, vacuole, or cell) in a plant or animal. b : a small abnormal elevation of the outer layer of skin enclosing a watery liquid : blister. c : a pocket of embryonic tissue that is the beginning of an organ.