empyema

[em-pee-ee-muh, -pahy-]

noun

Pathology.

1. a collection of pus in a body cavity, especially the pleural cavity.

empyema

/ ˌɛmpaɪˈiːmə /

noun

1. a collection of pus in a body cavity, esp in the chest

Other Word Forms

• empyemic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of empyema¹

1605–15; < Late Latin < Greek empýēma abscess, equivalent to em- em- ² + pyē- (variant stem of pyeîn to suppurate, akin to pýon, pýos pus) + -ma noun suffix denoting result of action

Word History and Origins

Origin of empyema¹

C17: from Medieval Latin, from Greek empuēma abscess, from empuein to suppurate, from puon pus

Example Sentences

He said she died as a result of bronchopneumonia with empyema due to invasive streptococcal infection.

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The infection had formed an abscess called an empyema, which triggered the seizures.

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The first, published this week in Pediatrics, looked at pneumonia, sinusitis and empyema hospitalizations in children under 5 in Sweden’s Stockholm County between 2003 and 2012.

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Additional confirmation of the fact that Hippocrates was familiar with the phenomena of these diseases may be found in his dissertation on empyema and fevers.

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He resisted this very well, but eventually died rather suddenly of an empyema.

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