sputum

American  

[spyoo-tuhm] / ˈspju təm /

noun

• sputa
  plural

1. matter, as saliva mixed with mucus or pus, expectorated from the lungs and respiratory passages.

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sputum British  

/ ˈspjuːtəm /

noun

1. a mass of salivary matter ejected from the mouth

2. saliva ejected from the mouth mixed with mucus or pus exuded from the respiratory passages, as in bronchitis or bronchiectasis

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sputa
  plural

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:

• sputum vs. mucus

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

See Examples For:

sputum sputa

That’s sputum, the mucus found deep in the airways.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

"It's meant to break up sputum, but kids under two can't spit it out, so the mucus can be aspirated into the lungs, causing pneumonia - yet it is still prescribed."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025

The team were able to achieve this by combining peptides with a culture medium that is known to recreate natural sputum and which can be easily infected.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 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

Toward the end of the day, more bedpans, the emptying of sputum mugs, the making of cocoa.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

All excreta, and more especially the sputa or discharges from the mouth or nose, are to be treated as dangerous.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

Fourteen years anterior to the researches of Koch, Hering, Swan and Biegler availed themselves, as a homœopathic remedy, of the maceration of tuberculous lungs, and of the sputa of tuberculous subjects.

From New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers by Edward Pollock Anshutz

I should here remark that I had in examining the sputa of this patient sent to me, found some of the ague plants.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 384, May 12, 1883 by Various

As soon as the stomach and bowels became empty there was comfort all along the line, and the cough was so diminished, that less than an ounce of sputa was raised in twenty-four hours.

From The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting-Cure by Edward Hooker Dewey

I gave over the case at this time, and some weeks afterwards I learnt with surprise that the patient was well and growing fat, and that the inoculation of the sputa had produced no effects.

From New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers by Edward Pollock Anshutz