53 medical glossaries
Last updated 31 July 2020
As promised, we have put together a list of medical glossaries that we use for medical translations. Each link listed below is an invaluable resource when it comes to learn more about a particular medical term. We heavily use them when we stumble upon a difficult or hard to translate term. Sometimes there is no equivalent term in the target language so this list of glossaries is very handy.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre (BIDMC) – A glossary specialised on donation and transplantation areas.
Children with Diabetes – A dictionary of diabetes-related words.
Dyer Scientific and Technical Translations – If you are looking for pharmaceutical terminology, this glossary is what you need. It also contains number of terms related to analysis and testing.
FONAR – In this glossary you will find MRI-related terminology.
HON (Health On the Net) Foundation – A glossary of allergy-related terms.
InnerSelf – An online dictionary of terms used in holistic medicine.
John F. Abess, M.D. – If your translation is about neurology or psychiatry, a good source would be abbess.com. Again, to easily locate your terms, use the find function within your favourite browser.
Stanford Children’s Health, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital – Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is a very trusted source when it comes to the field of pediatrics. They have put together not one, but several glossaries for various areas:
- Adolescent Medicine
- Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
- Burns
- Cardiovascular Disorders
- Care of the Terminally Ill Child
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Common Childhood Injuries and Poisonings
- Craniofacial Anomalies
- Dental and Oral Health
- Dermatology
- Diabetes and Other Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders
- Digestive and Liver Disorders
- Ear, Nose, and Throat
- Eye Care
- Growth and Development
- Hematology and Blood Disorders in Children
- High-Risk Newborn
- High-Risk Pregnancy
- Infectious Diseases
- Medical Genetics
- Neurological Disorders
- Oncology
- Orthopedics
- Pediatric Arthritis and Other Rheumatic Diseases
- Pediatrics
- Pregnancy and Childbirth
- Pregnancy, Birth, and Baby Center
- Respiratory Disorders
- Safety and Injury Prevention
- The Child Having Surgery
- Transplantation
LymphomaInfo – This glossary contains lymphoma-related terms.
MedFacts – Medfacts Medical Dictionary is a clean and easy to use website. You will find most of the terms here.
Medical Dictionary Online – Definitions of terms from the healthcare industry, including pharmaceutical drugs, medical equipment and abbreviations.
MediCare – This glossary contains numerous medical terms and their explanations and it has been developed by the Medicare program.
Medicine Online – A comprehensive list of cancer-related terms put together by the Nursing Advisory Board of Pharmacia & Upjohn Company.
MediLexicon – 2 comprehensive glossaries with thousands of terms related to the healthcare industry.
- Over 200,000 medical, biotech, pharma and healthcare acronyms and abbreviations
- Definitions of thousands of medical terms, with pronunciations and abbreviations
MedicineNet – A comprehensive 16000+ medical terms dictionary listed in alphabetical order. Some of the articles are accompanied by pictures which is an added bonus.
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) – Diabetes dictionary with pronunciation guide for all terms.
Pam Pohly’s Net Guide (not working – 26.02.2014) – The terms in this dictionary are grouped alphabetically. You can also use the “search” function to find a specific term.
PRK – This online glossary consists of numerous terms from the vision care industry.
The European Commission and Heymans Institute of Pharmacology – If you are looking for a glossary with technical and medical terms you can use this resource developed by The European Commission and the Heymans Institute of Pharmacology. The resource is not only available in English but also in Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Another great feature is that each term is listed under its scientific name and also popuar name.
Waiting – If you are interested in terms related to brain injury, this glossary is an invaluable resource.
WebMD – An excellent online glossary of the most common medical terms. Some terms are accompanied by pictures. The site also provides advice on treating certain conditions.
Weihenstephan – The 670 genetics-related terms in this glossary are grouped alphabetically or you can use the search function to find a specific word.