Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Electrocardiogram
/ɪˌlɛktroʊˈkɑːrdiəɡræm/noun
A tracing of the heart's electrical activity recorded through electrodes on the skin.
The Greek roots
ἤλεκτρον
ḗlektron
amber
καρδία
kardía
heart
γράμμα
grámma
thing written
Literally: “amber-heart writing”
The story of the word
Three ancient words for a machine barely a century old. Willem Einthoven's string galvanometer of 1901 made the recording precise enough for clinical use, and he wrote it up in German as Elektrokardiogramm, which is why English still abbreviates it EKG as often as ECG. ἤλεκτρον is amber, the fossil resin that picks up dust when rubbed on cloth, and the whole of electricity is named after that parlour trick.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- early 20th century
Same family
electroncardiaccardiologytelegramdiagram
In a sentence
The paramedic ran an electrocardiogram in the ambulance and radioed the trace ahead.