surgeon

American  

[sur-juhn] / ˈsɜr dʒən /

noun

• surgeons
  plural

1. a physician who specializes in surgery.

---

surgeon British  

/ ˈsɜːdʒən /

noun

1. a medical practioner who specializes in surgery

2. a medical officer in the Royal Navy

---

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

While the team’s doctors cleared him to play, Hardy went to an outside orthopedic surgeon who advised him not to play on the injury and to get immediate surgery.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Dr. Aaron Rollins, a celebrity plastic surgeon who was building a home on the island, got frustrated after four years of failed efforts to receive membership to the club.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Alexander Ionides, a consultant eye surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says if you have damaged your eyes, the symptoms will start to come on within a few hours.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

And yet, we’re the first generation to receive a formal advisory on parental stress from the surgeon general.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Hodge had been an army surgeon during the Revolutionary War, and while stubborn and crusty in his ways, he was a respected physician.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

In several markets reviewed by Elevance, surgeons performing spinal procedures are typically reimbursed $7,000 to $12,000, while out-of-network neurologists remotely monitoring them are winning upwards of $40,000 in arbitration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

It’s hard not to feel some kind of sympathy for Max, who sustained a severe brain injury while he was incarcerated that required surgeons to install a metal plate in his skull.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

"Many beauticians often have a little too much freedom. They think they have learned and, without being surgeons, sometimes perform surgical procedures," Kyrgyz plastic surgeon Iskender Kachkinbayev told AFP.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

“I was familiar with the surgeons that had gone to Gaza and had testified,” she said.

From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026

He wore a pair of latex gloves, the kind worn by surgeons.

From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar

Related Words

• expert
• physician
• professor
• scientist
• specialist