HEALTHY AND HAPPY – Active Vocabulary (2021)

Diseases:

Disease, ailment, illness, sickness, malady

An allergy (to) Chickenpox A heart attack Pneumonia Travel-, motion-, air-,

Appendicitis Concussion Indigestion Rheumatism car-, seasickness
Asthma Diarrhoea Insomnia Scarlet fever A headache
AIDS Diabetes Malaria A sore throat (A) toothache
Bronchitis A fever Malnutrition Stomach ulcer Earache
Cancer Flu / influenza Measles A stroke Backache
A chill Food poisoning Mumps Tonsillitis Stomachache
A cold Hay fever A nervous breakdown Tuberculosis Heartache

To fall ill (WITH a disease) / To be taken ill (WITH a disease) / To come (go) down (WITH a disease)

To be ill (WITH a disease) (Compare: to be sick) / To be down (WITH a disease) / To be laid up

(WITH a disease) / To suffer (FROM a disease)

Diseases / Illnesses: acute (Ant.: chronic)

common (Ant.: rare)
serious / bad (Ant.: minor)
contagious / infectious / catching

A bad / heavy / nasty cold (Ant: A slight / minor / mild cold)

A sudden disease
An incurable disease
A fatal disease / A terminal disease

To be prone to… (allergies, minor ailments, etc.)

To catch a disease / To pick up a disease (FROM smb) (Ant: TO give a disease / To pass on a disease)
To spread
Isolated cases of … – There is a lot of it about. – An outbreak of… – To reach epidemic proportions

Feeling unwell:

To feel unwell: To feel out of sorts / To feel a bit funny / To feel off colour / To feel under the weather;
Ant: To be as fit as a fiddle / To burst with health; To be in perfect health

To feel run down (Compare: To be worn out)

To look faint / feel faint / be faint (Compare: To faint)
Not to feel up to doing anything

Symptoms:

To ache – To hurt – To be painful – To be sore

To feel pain / To suffer from pain / To be in pain (Ant: To be out of pain)

Pain acute / severe / sharp / bad (Ant.: Dull / slight / mild)

 sudden
shooting
burning
like pins and needles
to grow worse

To be aching all over / To be all aches and pains

To suffer FROM smth (Compare: To suffer smth (He suffered a heart attack.)
To hurt / To injure SMTH badly / seriously / severely
To cause pain / To bring on pain

To affect (heart, lungs, old people…)

To develop a temperature / To get a temperature

To feel feverish / To have a (slight, high, constant) fever / To run a temperature
To shiver / To feel shivery

A bout of… (shivers) / A fit of… (coughing) / An attack of… (asthma) / A touch of… (rheumatism)

Inflammation (Inflammation set in.)

To be inflamed (BY / WITH an infection)

To be allergic TO smth / To have an allergy TO smth

Disorder (mental disorder; physical disorder)

An injury (to the head)
A fracture / A break; A clean break; A minor fracture

To lose consciousness / To pass out / To faint (from hunger)

HEAD To have a headache; A splitting headache;

To feel giddy / To feel dizzy, To suffer from giddiness / dizziness;
EYES Running; sore; swollen; itchy; inflamed;
NOSE To sneeze, The nose is running, The nose is stuffed up, To bleed;
THROAT To have a sore throat; It hurts to swallow; Swollen glands;
CHEST To cough; A cough; To have a bad / heavy cough, dry cough, persistent cough;
A fit of coughing; To cough away all night;
To suffer from chest pains, heartache, a pain in the chest;
To be short of breath (Compare: To be out of breath);
STOMACH To have stomach-ache; To lose appetite; To feel a pain on eating; To feel a pain in
my side;
To suffer from indigestion, diarrhea, constipation;
To feel nauseous / To feel sick; To vomit / To throw up;
SKIN Spots; rash; bruises; blisters; cuts; wounds; inflammation; swelling;
To come out in (a rash) / To break into (sweat); (Compare: To bring out in a rash –
Tomatoes bring me out in a rash);
To itch;
JOINTS Painful; stiff; hot to the touch; To swell up (Swollen joints);
ANKLE Sprained; twisted; broken / fractured;
MUSCLES Aching; To pull a muscle
 Asking about health:

To ask AFTER smb: To show sympathy: To give advice:

How is N. keeping / getting
on?
How is N. these days?
What’s wrong with N.?
What’s the trouble with N.?
Where does it hurt?
What seems to be the matter?
I am sorry to hear that!
I know how it feels.
Oh, no! Poor old N.!
How upsetting / How awful!
Give him my regards!
We wish you speedy
recovery!
Why don’t you lie down?
Would you like an aspirin?
Would you like me to call the doctor?
Let me know if there is anything I can
do.
Tell him to take things easy.
I hope he soon gets over it / feels better

Doctors:

Doctor / physician/ medical man Paediatrician / children’s doctor Dentist

General Practitioner (GP) Gynaecologist / women’s doctor Midwife
Surgeon Psychiatrist Nurse
Optician Pharmacist

Making an appointment with a doctor:

To call a doctor / To send for a doctor

To consult a doctor ABOUT smth / To see a doctor
To make an appointment / to fix an appointment / to ask for an appointment (with a doctor)
To have an appointment (with a doctor)
To keep an appointment / To come at the appointed time (Ant: To break / cancel / miss an
appointment)
To be by appointment only (Consultation is by appointment only.)
To check the schedule
To be fully booked
To fit SMB in
Surgery hours (Surgery hours are from 9 to 5).

To go for a check-up / To have a check-up

An annual check-up
To arrive at the waiting-room
A surgery / A consulting-room

What do we do at the doctor’s?

To complain TO smb OF smth

To breathe in (Ant.: to breathe out (deeply))
To have my eyes / throat / … examined
To have a blood test taken / To have my blood tested
To have my eyesight tested
To have my chest X-rayed
To have my temperature taken (Compare.: To take the temperature)
To have my blood pressure (cardiogram) taken
To have my height and weight measured
To have my tonsils removed
To be diagnosed with a disease
To malinger / To feign a sickness / To be a malingerer

What do the doctors do?

To examine (carefully / thoroughly) / To give SMB (a thorough / careful) examination; To examine

FOR smth
To feel the pulse (Compare.: To take the pulse)
To sound the heart and lungs
To take temperature
To take blood pressure
To test eyesight

To diagnose an illness as SMTH / To diagnose SMB with SMTH

To make a (skilful, accurate) diagnosis
It sounds like … to me.
By the sound of it, you caught a cold.

Medications and their effects:

A medicine FOR smth

To take medicines (pills, tablets):
A painkiller To ease a pain / To soothe a pain / To relieve a
Antibiotics pain
Vitamins (Vitamin pills) To reduce a pain / To lessen a
Half an aspirin pain
Cough mixture (two spoonfuls) To kill a pain / deaden a pain
two times a day To reduce the fever /To bring down the
before (after) meals temperature
last thing at night To reduce / To bring down the blood pressure
before going to bed To reduce the swelling
To gargle (with salt water) To reduce inflammation
Eye drops; Nose drops To reduce discomfort
To put in drops, To put drops into the nose To relieve the symptoms
Ointment To keep out infection
To rub in; To rub on; To rub into the skin To lessen the risk of infection
To apply mustard plaster To fight off infection
Heat treatment To avoid complications / To prevent
To use herbal remedies / medicinal herbs complications
Alternative medicine To build up strength
Vaccination, To vaccinate against SMTH To speed up the recovery
To be on the safe side

Procedures of curing:

To put on sick-leave / To grant sick-leave (two-weeks’ sick-leave)

To go on sick-leave
To be on sick-leave / To be on the sick-list
To be off work sick / To stay away from school
To stay in bed / To have total bed rest / To keep to bed (Compare: To take to bed)
To treat smb FOR a disease WITH smth
To cure smb OF a disease, To cure an illness
A cure FOR a disease / A remedy FOR a disease
To put smb on treatment; To put smb on antibiotics
To prescribe (a medicine, a course of treatment, a course of injections)
To give an injection
To follow the doctor’s instructions / To follow the directions

Prescriptions

To prescribe some medicine (for smb) FOR an illness

To write out a prescription FOR some medicine / To make out a prescription FOR some medicine
To be careful not to exceed the prescribed dose
To double-check WITH the doctor ABOUT the dose
To avoid the side-effects of the medicine

At the chemist’s

The chemist’s / A drugstore

To take the prescription to the chemist’s
To have medicines on hand
To be available ON prescription
To have the prescription filled at the chemist’s / To have the prescription made up at the chemist’s
To leave the prescription with the chemist
To come by for the prescription later

Recovering

To recover (FROM an illness; AFTER an operation)

To get over a disease / To overcome a disease / To be back to normal
To make a recovery
To make a quick recovery, slow recovery, good recovery, total recovery, miraculous recovery

To heal up / To heal over (The cut healed up.)

The swelling goes down
The pain goes away / wears off / eases off
To be out of pain

To be on the way to recovery / To be (well) on the road to recovery / To be on the mend

Dental problems:

To dread coming to see a dentist

To put off going to the dentist
To pluck up your courage

To have (a) toothache / To suffer from toothache

A bad toothache
The tooth is bothering me
The tooth keeps me awake
The pain skips around
The tooth is sensitive to heat and cold
The tooth is sore to the touch
To have a sore gum
The jaw swelled with toothache
To have a loose filling (which is about to drop out / to fall out)
To have a cavity in the tooth
To have (a good deal of) decay (around the cavity)
The decay has gone deeply into the tooth

The tooth needs seeing to

The tooth needs stopping / pulling

Dental equipment:

The dentist’s chair A tongue depressor

An electric drill A pair of forceps
A syringe A mirror on a long handle

Dental procedures:

To open your mouth wide

To look over the teeth / To examine the teeth (Compare: to see to the teeth)

To give an injection of a painkiller (of Novocaine)

To feel a prick on the gum

To drill a tooth
To put in a filling / To fill in a cavity / To stop a tooth / To fill a tooth
To last long / To hold long (The filling will last long.)
To extract a tooth / To take out a tooth / To pull (out) a tooth (Ant: To save a tooth)
Painful extraction (Ant: painless extraction)

To have your teeth cleaned (Compare: to brush your teeth)

To have your tooth X-rayed
To have your tooth filled / stopped
To have your tooth pulled / extracted / taken out / To have a tooth out

Dentist’s advice:

Sound teeth

To take better care of your teeth

Not to put off going to the dentist
To brush your teeth regularly
To use dental floss
To keep an eye on a diet

To have your teeth examined twice a year

To have your teeth cleaned

Be true to your teeth or your teeth will be false to you

 Hospital terminology

An in-patient (Ant: An out-patient) A stretcher

To call the ambulance A case history
To take to hospital A ward
To check in hospital (Ant: To discharge from A unit (Intensive therapy unit / Intensive care
hospital) unit)

Procedures in hospital

To make rounds / To go rounds

To treat a patient FOR a disease
To have a course of treatment / To undergo treatment (FOR a disease)
To cure a patient OF a disease
To try out a new course of treatment on smb / To test smth on smb

To give SMB first aid

To clean the wound with antiseptic / To put a little antiseptic on the wound / To wash and disinfect the
wound
To dress a wound / To apply a dressing to a wound (Ant: To remove a dressing)
To put a bandage on / To put a bandage over (the head) / To bind (Ant: To take off the bandage)
To replace a dressing

To put the arm in a sling (To have your arm in a sling)

To put a leg in plaster (To have your leg put in plaster) (Ant: To take off the plaster)
To go on crutches (until the plaster comes off)
Young bones set quickly

To give an injection
To inject smth into the arm / To inject the arm with smth
To give blood transfusion

Patients’ condition

To be in good condition / To be fit

(Ant: To be in poor condition / To be out of condition / To be unfit (for smth))

To be in condition to do smth / To be in no condition to do smth

To deteriorate (deteriorating condition) / To take a turn for the worse

To bring on complications (Complications set in.)
To have complications after a serious disease
To have a relapse

To be bedridden / To be confined to bed

To be in critical condition
To feel like death warmed up
To be slipping away / To be fading fast
To be in a coma (Ant: To come out of the coma)
The life is hanging by a thread
It’s just a matter of time

To pass away / To die OF an illness / To die FROM a wound / To die THROUGH neglect,

To be in good hands
To fight for life
To recover / To regain consciousness / To come to / To come round
To come out of the coma
To respond to treatment
To turn the corner / The worst is over / To be over the worst
To make progress / To come along

An improvement in condition
Stable condition / Satisfactory condition
To be out of the danger list /off the danger list
To be on your feet again / To be up and about / To be out and about
To be completely recovered / To be as good as new / To be as right as rain

Operation

An operating-theatre
To go ahead with an operation
To operate ON smb FOR smth / To perform surgery / To perform an operation FOR smth

To undergo an operation / To be operated on

To have appendix removed / To have appendix out
To come through an operation
To be under the anaesthetic
The effect of the anaesthetic wears off

To leave a scar
To avoid post-operative complications

Convalescence and recuperation period

To survive an illness / To pull through (an illness)

To convalesce
To recuperate / To build up your strength
To examine your eating habits, drinking habits, sleeping habits
To live to be a hundred / To live to a hundred / To live till you are a hundred