emergency

English

Alternative forms

• emergence (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin emergentia, from Latin emergens, present participle of emergo, equivalent to emergent +‎ -cy or emerge +‎ -ency.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /iˈmɜː(ɹ).dʒən.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɝ.dʒən.si/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: e‧mer‧gen‧cy
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒənsi

Noun

emergency (plural emergencies)

1. A situation which poses an immediate risk and which requires urgent attention.

   Cardiac arrest is an emergency and if you find someone in cardiac arrest you should call 999 immediately.

2. The department of a hospital that treats emergencies.
3. An individual brought in at short notice to replace a member of staff, a player in a sporting team, etc.
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     Van Gaal responded by replacing Adnan Januzaj with Carrick and, in fairness, the emergency centre-half did exceedingly well given that he has not played since May.

4. (attributive) Arising from or used in an emergency.
   • 2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33:

     We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.

5. (archaic) The quality of being emergent; sudden or unexpected appearance; an unforeseen occurrence.

Synonyms

• (hospital department): ER, casualty, emerg

Related terms

• emerge
• emergence

Translations

situation requiring urgent assistance

• Afrikaans: noodgeval sg
• Arabic: طَوَارِئ‎ m pl (ṭawāriʾ), حَالَةْ اَلطَّوَارِئ‎ f (ḥālat aṭ-ṭawāriʾ)
• Asturian: emerxencia f, urxencia f
• Basque: larrialdi sg, urgentzia sg
• Belarusian: надзвыча́йная сітуа́цыя f (nadzvyčájnaja situácyja)
• Bulgarian: спешен случай m (spešen slučaj)
• Catalan: emergència (ca) f, urgència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 緊急事故, 紧急事故 (jǐnjí shìgù), 緊急情況, 紧急情况 (jǐnjí qíngkuàng), 急診 (zh), 急诊 (zh) (jízhěn) (medical)

• Czech: nouzová situace, nouze (cs)
• Danish: nødstilfælde n, nødsituation (da) c
• Dutch: nood (nl) m, noodgeval (nl) n, spoedgeval (nl) n
• Esperanto: krizo
• Finnish: hätä (fi), hätätilanne
• French: urgence (fr) f, crise (fr) f
• Galician: emerxencia f, urxencia (gl) f
• Georgian: საგანგებო მდგომარეობა (sagangebo mdgomareoba), საგანგებო სიტუაცია (sagangebo siṭuacia), კრიტიკული მდგომარეობა (ḳriṭiḳuli mdgomareoba), ექსტრემალური სიტუაცია (eksṭremaluri siṭuacia), უკიდურესი აუცილებლობა (uḳiduresi aucilebloba)
• German: Notfall (de) m, Notlage (de) f, Notstand (de) m
• Greek: έκτακτη ανάγκη f (éktakti anágki)
• Hebrew: מַצַּב חֵרוּם‎ (he) (matzáv ḥerúm)
• Hindi: आपातकाल m (āpātkāl)
• Hungarian: vészhelyzet (hu), szükséghelyzet, (as an adjective) vész- (hu), szükség- (hu), rendkívüli (hu)
• Icelandic: neyðarástand n

• Indonesian: darurat (id)
• Italian: emergenza (it) f
• Japanese: 非常時 (ひじょうじ, hijōji), 緊急事態 (きんきゅうじたい, kinkyū-jitai)
• Kazakh: төтенше жағдай (tötenşe jağday)
• Korean: 비상 사태(非常事態) (bisang satae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: lezgîn (ku)

• Latin: subitum n
• Louisiana Creole French: urjen, sériyé
• Malay: kecemasan (ms)
• Malayalam: അടിയന്തരാവസ്ഥ (ml) (aṭiyantarāvastha), അടിയന്തരം (ml) (aṭiyantaraṃ)
• Maori: ohotata, whawhati tata
• Nepali: आपातकाल (āpātkāl)
• Northern Sami: heahtedilli
• Persian: اضطراری‎ (fa) (ezterâri), فوریت‎ (fa) (foruriyat)
• Portuguese: emergência (pt) f, urgência (pt) f
• Romanian: urgență (ro) f
• Russian: чрезвыча́йное положе́ние n (črezvyčájnoje položénije), э́кстренная ситуа́ция f (ékstrennaja situácija), чрезвыча́йное происше́ствие n (črezvyčájnoje proisšéstvije), ч. п. n (č. p.)
• Scottish Gaelic: èiginn f
• Slovak: núdzová situácia f
• Spanish: emergencia (es) f, urgencia (es) f
• Swedish: nöd (sv) c, nödläge (sv) n, nödsituation (sv) c, nödfall n
• Turkish: acil durum
• Ukrainian: надзвича́йна ситуа́ція (nadzvyčájna sytuácija), аварі́йна ситуа́ція (avaríjna sytuácija), е́кстрена ситуа́ція (ékstrena sytuácija)

emergency department — See also translations at emergency room

• Afrikaans: noodgevalle pl
• Asturian: urxencias f
• Basque: larrialdiak pl, urgentziak pl
• Catalan: urgències (ca) f pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 急診室 (zh), 急诊室 (zh) (jízhěnshì), 急症室 (jízhèngshì)

• Czech: pohotovost f
• Dutch: spoedgevallen (nl) n pl
• Finnish: ensiapupoliklinikka
• French: urgences (fr) f pl
• Georgian: სასწრაფო დახმარების განყოფილება (sasc̣rapo daxmarebis ganq̇opileba), გადაუდებელი დახმარების განყოფილება (gadaudebeli daxmarebis ganq̇opileba)
• German: Notdienst (de) m, Notaufnahme (de) f

• Greek: τμήμα επειγόντων περαστικών n (tmíma epeigónton perastikón), επείγοντα περαστικά n pl (epeígonta perastiká)
• Hungarian: sürgősségi osztály, baleseti ambulancia, baleseti osztály, sürgősségi betegellátó osztály
• Kazakh: жедел жәрдем бөлмесі (jedel järdem bölmesi)
• Persian: اورژانس‎ (fa) (uržâns)
• Portuguese: emergências f pl, urgências f pl, urgência (pt) f
• Romanian: urgență (ro) f
• Russian: реанима́ция (ru) f (reanimácija), отделе́ние неотло́жной по́мощи n (otdelénije neotlóžnoj pómošči), неотло́жка (ru) f (neotlóžka) (colloquial)
• Slovak: pohotovosť
• Spanish: urgencias (es) f pl, emergencias (es) f pl
• Swedish: akutmottagning (sv) c, akut (sv) c
• Ukrainian: реаніма́ція (uk) (reanimácija), відді́лення е́кстренної допомо́ги (viddílennja ékstrennoji dopomóhy), відді́лення невідкла́дної допомо́ги (viddílennja nevidkládnoji dopomóhy)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• emergency department
• emergency entrance
• emergency exit
• emergency medical services
• Emergency Medical Technician

• emergency response
• emergency room
• emergency ward
• state of emergency
• The Emergency

See also

• fire department
• police