echocardiogram

IPA/ˌekəʊˈkɑːdiəʊɡræm/
IPA/ˌekəʊˈkɑːrdiəʊɡræm/

echocardiogram — noun

  • echocardiogramsingular
  • echocardiogramsplural

1. a medical procedure that uses sound waves to produce moving pictures of a person

1.nounC1
Definition

a medical procedure that uses sound waves to produce moving pictures of a person's heart, allowing doctors to see how well the heart is pumping and to find possible problems

Example

The doctor ordered an echocardiogram for Wei after he had chest pain during exercise.

ordered an echocardiogram

Zola's echocardiogram took forty minutes, and she watched her heartbeat appear on the screen.

Common collocations
  • have an echocardiogram
  • order an echocardiogram
  • schedule an echocardiogram
  • undergo an echocardiogram
Synonyms
  • cardiac ultrasound

    broader term covering any ultrasound of the heart, including non-diagnostic uses

  • echo

    informal clinical abbreviation, common among medical staff

Usage Note

Frequently shortened to 'echo' by medical professionals in informal speech ('I need to schedule an echo').

Common Mistakes

The nurse did an echocardiogram to check my heart rhythm.
The nurse did an echocardiogram to check my heart structure and pumping.
An echocardiogram checks structure and motion; an EKG/ECG checks electrical rhythm.

2. the picture or video produced by an echocardiogram test, showing the heart's cha

2.nounC1
Definition

the picture or video produced by an echocardiogram test, showing the heart's chambers, valves, and the movement of blood

Example

Meera's echocardiogram showed that her heart's lower chamber was pumping weakly.

shows result: pumping weakly

On the echocardiogram, Dr. Campos showed where blood was flowing through the valve.

preposition: on the echocardiogram

Common collocations
  • on the echocardiogram
  • the echocardiogram shows
  • echocardiogram image
Synonyms

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: sense 1 refers to the test procedure itself, while sense 2 refers to the resulting pictures or video recording.

Common Mistakes

The echocardiogram was pinned to the light board.' (meaning the printed image).
The echocardiogram image was pinned to the light board.
Sense 2 is the image, but to avoid confusion with the test, add 'image' or 'printout' when referring to a physical picture.

Word family

  • echocardiography
    nounC1
  • echocardiograph
    nounC2
  • echocardiographic
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

An echocardiogram is the actual test a patient undergoes. Echocardiography is the broader technique or medical field — a doctor may specialize in echocardiography without performing a single echocardiogram on a given day. Cardiac ultrasound is a more general term that includes all ultrasound uses on the heart (including fetal heart checks), while an echocardiogram specifically diagnoses structure and function. EKG (or ECG) is a completely different test that measures the heart's electrical activity using electrodes on the skin, not sound waves. Sonogram is a general term for any ultrasound image (of a fetus, liver, etc.), not specifically the heart. In a hospital, a doctor might say 'I ordered an echo' (echocardiogram), but that same doctor would say 'the sonogram shows the baby' — never 'the echocardiogram shows the baby.'

echocardiographycardiac ultrasoundecho ↗EKGsonogram ↗

Common collocations

Phrases

  • echocardiogram results
  • echocardiogram report

Etymology

GreekEnglish

A modern medical term formed in the mid-20th century from three Greek roots: echo (returning sound), kardia (heart), and gramma (written record or drawing). The word was created after the invention of ultrasound technology that could bounce sound waves off the heart and record the returning signals as images.

First known use

1967

1967, in the meaning defined above