Intravenous

How to spell intravenous

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce intravenous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intravenous mean?

1. adjectiveExisting or taking place within a vein, or administered directly into a vein.

Intravenous in a sentence

• The nurse set up an intravenous drip to keep the patient hydrated.

• Strong antibiotics were given by the intravenous route rather than as tablets.

Where does intravenous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word was assembled by medical scientists from Latin building blocks rather than inherited whole. The first part, intra-, simply means 'within' or 'inside', the opposite of inter- which means 'between'. The core is vena, the ordinary Latin noun for a vein or blood vessel, the same root that gives us 'vein' itself and 'venous'. The ending -ous is the familiar adjective suffix meaning 'relating to' or 'characterised by'. The compound came into use in the nineteenth century, around the 1850s, as physicians developed techniques for delivering fluids and medicines directly into a patient's veins, and it literally describes anything situated within or administered into the veins. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: the 'a' of intra- and the silent ease of 'venous' encourage writers to drop letters or guess vowels.

How the word is built

• intra- (within)
• ven (from Latin vena: vein)
• -ous (adjective suffix: having or relating to)