sputum
Americannoun
noun
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a mass of salivary matter ejected from the mouth
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saliva ejected from the mouth mixed with mucus or pus exuded from the respiratory passages, as in bronchitis or bronchiectasis
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sputum
1685–95; < Latin spūtum, noun use of neuter of spūtus, past participle of spuere to spit, equivalent to spū- variant stem + -tus past participle suffix
Compare meaning
How does sputum compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Sputum is the gross stuff that you cough up when you're sick and congested. Sputum is your saliva mixed with mucus from your lungs. Examining a patient's sputum is one way for a doctor to tell if she might have an infection, rather than just a cold. A yellow or greenish color to the sputum someone coughs up is a sign of infection, while clear sputum usually means all is well. The word sputum shares a root with spew, the Latin verb spuere, "to spit."
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.
The living material incorporates multiple microbial communities and key nutritional and chemical factors that promote bacterial growth and exhibit physical properties mimicking those of biofilms from CF sputum.
From Science Daily • Nov. 21, 2023
A sign at the entrance to the clinic announces the other major health problem: "sputum sampling" for tuberculosis or TB.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2023
They’ve also helped health clinics in Africa diagnose people with tuberculosis, detecting the bacteria in the sputum samples of 25,000 patients.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 18, 2023
But were these tree bubbles — or tree sputum, as I came to call them — actually insect eggs?
From Washington Post • Feb. 20, 2023
He tells me how TB is such a deceptive disease; it doesn’t always reveal itself by a sputum culture, as it did for the father.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
