surgeon

American  

[sur-juhn] / ˈsɜr dʒən /

noun

• surgeons
  plural

1. a physician who specializes in surgery.

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surgeon British  

/ ˈsɜːdʒən /

noun

1. a medical practioner who specializes in surgery

2. a medical officer in the Royal Navy

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• surgeons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of surgeon

1250–1300; Middle English surgien < Anglo-French, alteration of Old French cirurgien chirurgeon

Explanation

A surgeon is a kind of doctor who treats his patients by using his hands, often by performing surgery. If you're comfortable slicing into a person's body to remove an appendix, then you might make a decent surgeon. The word surgeon comes from the Greek kheirourgos, which is a fancy way of saying "done by the hand." Whereas a doctor-at-large might treat his patients by chatting with them, asking questions, and prescribing medications, a surgeon's work is much more hands-on, you might say. A surgeon specializes in cutting open the body, usually to heal his patients.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

surgeon surgeons

A former deputy surgeon general, Schwartz was confirmed by the Senate to lead the country’s premier public health agency in August.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Victims of disgraced brain surgeon Sam Eljamel have complained of "significant gaps" in their records and said they often do not reflect the reality of their care.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

The surgeon general declared a loneliness epidemic in 2023, but it was already happening.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Social isolation among older adults also accounts for about $6.7 billion in excess Medicare spending a year, largely due to increased hospital and nursing-facility spending, according to the 2023 surgeon general’s report.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

For each surgeon, she picked two patient conversations.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Once surgeons started using robots for more of the precision work of cutting and separating tissue, though, Beane found residents got 10 to 20 times less hands-on practice during such procedures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Oculoplastic surgeons - doctors specialising in surgery around the eyes - say a concerning number of patients are reporting problems from cheap bleph surgery, typically carried out abroad.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

When he finally woke up, in an intensive care unit in Oklahoma City, about 90 miles northeast of Comanche, he learned that surgeons had removed 13 inches of his small intestine during emergency surgery.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Zoo veterinarians worked with surgeons from the University of Liverpool's Small Animal Teaching Hospital to remove the mass and preserve as much of the foot as possible.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026

Ernest’s condition had astonished the surgeons in the operating room.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• expert
• physician
• professor
• scientist
• specialist