tracheotomy
Americannoun
-
tracheotomies
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tracheotomy
Explanation
When someone can't breathe because their airway is blocked, a surgical procedure called a tracheotomy might be necessary, when a doctor makes an incision through their neck and into their windpipe. The medical term tracheotomy comes from trachea, the anatomical name for "windpipe," and the suffix -tomy, from the Greek tomia, "a cutting." In simple terms, a tracheotomy is the cutting of someone's trachea. Emergency tracheotomies are commonly performed when a person has choked on an object that becomes wedged in their airway. A successful tracheotomy allows the person to breathe again, until the object can be removed.
Vocabulary lists containing tracheotomy
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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.
See Examples For:
A really wonderful guy, sort of a self-advocate and kind of a grump, total badass activist who has muscular dystrophy and has a tracheotomy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
He felt this technique would be far less disruptive to the person's life than either constantly being tired during the day or, as a last resort, punching a hole in their throat with a tracheotomy.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2023
During his hospitalization, both of Konrad Imirowicz’s legs were amputated, he suffered several infections and received a tracheotomy, skin grafts and kidney dialysis.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
Compared with the 2011 images, these were toned down—no more tracheotomy holes—and the FDA dropped the 1-800-QUIT-NOW number that the courts had specifically criticized.
From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2023
Gus and Helen Panos were there and, because it was a funeral, Gus’s tracheotomy made his voice sound even more like the voice of death.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
The actor had two tracheotomies while undergoing treatment for throat cancer.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2025
Then there was the time my mom raised the subject of tracheotomies when we heard sustained coughing at a nearby table.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022
“I had so many respiratory things going on — two tracheotomies by the time I was 1,” said Good, 75.
From Fox News ● Aug. 9, 2019
He underwent three tracheotomies, and his emphysema grew so severe that at one point he needed oxygen onstage to perform.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2016
In fifty consecutive tracheotomies from 1872 to 1874 I did not see one recovery.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
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.
