cannula
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cannula
First recorded in 1675–85; from New Latin, Latin: “small reed,” equivalent to cann(a) “reed, cane” + -ula diminutive suffix; see origin at cane, -ule
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How does cannula compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
In medicine, a cannula is a very thin tube that's used to deliver medicine. A patient undergoing surgery will often have a cannula inserted into a vein so that anesthesia can be administered. If you've ever had an IV in a hospital or doctor's office, you've had a cannula, which is nothing more than the flexible tube that fluids or medication flows through. Donating blood or having a blood test involves cannulas as well — in this case, a small amount of blood flows from your vein into the cannula. This is a Latin word that means "small reed or pipe," from canna, "reed or pipe."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
For the entirety of his short life at the neonatal intensive care unit, he had the cannula through his nose to facilitate his breathing and a feeding tube between his lips.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2026
During the trial, STC3141 was delivered through an infusion using a cannula.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 30, 2026
It also called on the health service to record parental concerns, review workloads for ambulance crews, and review training around cannula, vascular access insertion, and intravenous therapy.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2025
“I don’t know how long I’ll indefinitely need the oxygen,” she added while gesturing toward her nasal cannula, “but you have no idea how blessed and how grateful I was for this holiday season.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2024
People are always looking at my cannula, my scars, my G-tube, not at me.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
I ripped it off, only to find it was my rebreathing bag and nasal cannulae.
From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2020
They hooked me up to a rebreathing bag and put nasal cannulae up my nose that pumped in pure oxygen.
From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2020
The infusion cannulae remained in place for 1 min after the infusion.
From Nature ● Mar. 21, 2017
First Litwak and his team insert two cannulae, or tubes, of flexible silicone into the patient's open chest.
From Time Magazine Archive
Forceps stylets should be removed from their cannulae, and the cannulae cleansed with cold water, then dried and oiled with the pipe-cleaning material.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Jackson, Chevalier
Porters have to wheel beds through this open space, between patients being treated in chairs and nurses kneeling on the floor to remove cannulas.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2025
It weighs between 60 and 200 pounds depending on the model, and is attached to the child with two cannulas almost as large as garden hoses.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2024
For example, doctors are turning to nasal cannulas, which are noninvasive prongs that blow oxygen into the nose, before a ventilator.
From The Verge ● Jul. 8, 2020
If he fumbles around in the surge clinic trying to figure how to fit the oxygen cannulas over someone’s face, he tells himself, “They’ll teach me, and I’ll learn to do it.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2020
Giulianotti put a laparoscopic camera through one of the cannulas and, while watching the screen, used forceps to push the bag toward the incision.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 23, 2019
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
