What does anaesthetist mean?
Word: Anaesthetist
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Anaesthetist means a doctor who gives a patient a drug or gas before an operation so that they feel no pain, and who watches over them until it is over.
How do you spell anaesthetist?
Syllables: a - naes - the - tist
Tricky part: British English keeps the ae after the opening an, the pair that American English drops in anesthetist; pupils who have only seen the American form leave out the a.
Watch out for: aneasthetist, anasthetist, anaestetist
Memory tip: Before an operation you want A Nice And Easy Sleep: the first letters of that saying give a-n-a-e-s, the start of the word.
Anaesthetist in a sentence
Example 1: The anaesthetist chatted with Grandpa to keep him calm before his knee operation.
Example 2: My cousin is training to be an anaesthetist at a big hospital in Pune.
Example 3: During the operation, the anaesthetist kept checking the patient's breathing and heartbeat.
Fun Fact
The American doctor and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes suggested the name for this pain-free sleep in 1846, building it from Greek words meaning without feeling, soon after the first public operation done under ether.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) pharmasist
b) surjeon
c) radiolojist
d) anaesthetist
Show answer
d) anaesthetist. Pharmacist has a c before ist, surgeon is spelt with a g, and radiologist ends in gist; only the doctor who sends you to sleep is right.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
sieehtsttaan
a) anaesthesia
b) anaesthetic
c) anaesthetist
d) anaesthetise
Show answer
c) anaesthetist. The jumble has no c, only two a's and only two e's, and just one option fits all three facts.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
anaesth_t_st
a) i, i
b) a, i
c) e, i
d) e, e
Show answer
c) e, i. The vowel before the t is a weak e, and the ending is ist, the same as in artist.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
anaesthettist
a) h
b) t
c) i
d) s
Show answer
b) t. The doubled t is the slip: this word has no double letters at all.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In an operation, what is the anaesthetist's job rather than the surgeon's?
a) choosing where to make the cut
b) stitching the wound closed
c) cutting out the damaged part
d) keeping the patient pain-free
Show answer
d) keeping the patient pain-free
2. Where would you expect to find an anaesthetist at work?
a) in a clinic for hearing tests
b) in an optician's eye-test room
c) behind a chemist's shop counter
d) in a hospital operating theatre
Show answer
d) in a hospital operating theatre
